Seattle Food Swap set for Saturday at IOOF Lodge

The first ever Seattle Food Swap is set to kick off at 9:45 a.m. Saturday, April 13 at Ballard Alki Lodge IOOF (1706 NW Market St). The Food Swap Co-op Seattle will be hosting the event.

The Seattle Food Swap invites all locals to participate in swapping homemade goods with each other in the spirit of community involvement. What is, in their definition, a food swap you may ask? “A food swap is a local event where people with common interests and extra homemade goods get together to trade. In our version of a swap, no money changes hands between the participants – only goods,” says event organizer Heather Ingersoll.

Ingersoll wanted to organize the swap because of her experiences growing up in a family with a garden that always had too much produce for them and their neighbors. “Now that I have my own garden, I want to share my goods with others with a no money exchanged swap.  I am inviting backyard gardeners, bee keepers, artists, cooks, bakers… everyone to participate,” says Ingersoll.

Saturday’s event will comprise of four phases, lasting approximately 2-3 hours, and the swap will be organized using a card based bidding system. On arrival, participants will set up their displays with items that are available to be swapped and any descriptions that may be needed. Then all participants will have the opportunity to wander around the hall and check out all of the goods on offer. Once the swapping phase has started participants then make their bids by writing their name on another person’s card and noting what they want to swap with them. After all bids are made, participants will then return to their display and make the tough decisions on what bids that they want to accept. “The bids are just a starting point and everything in negotiable,” sayd Ingersoll.

In terms of what can be swapped Ingersoll explains, “basically anything that falls into the handmade, homegrown, and foraged categories. Trading is loosely set up on a 1 for 1 format.” Examples of items can be found on the event website and include things such as veggies, fruit, homemade pies, knit or sewn items and even finished and bagged compost from your own yard.