Meatless Monday: They Came, They Bid, They Swapped

Slow Food Shoreline’s Food Swap on February 4th was such a success that it will likely become a a monthly event. When food lovers arrived at at New Haven’s Woodland Coffee & Tea, wares in hand, the group’s full board was there to greet them. 

These eggs did NOT come from a store!

The empty table was soon filled with items for trade. There were eggs of many colors — lots of them — from backyard chickens, baked goods, jams, and even some limoncello. Nothing to trade? You were out of luck. No cash allowed. 

People perused and mingled, had some coffee, and talked until the bidding opened. They placed their bids, then talked and drank some more. When the time was up, the swaps were made. There were smiles all around. One kind soul shared her extra fruit butter with everyone, even with those who had arrived empty-handed. The traders left happy and inspired for next month. Here are details on how the Swap works. You can see more photos from the first Swap and other recent events at the group’s facebook page.

There’s no stopping Slow Food Shoreline’s enthusiastic board. They staffed a table at the opening day of “Big Food: Health, Culture and the Evolution of Eating,” a hands-on exhibition at Yale’s Peabody Museum through December 2012. Prior commitments kept me from checking out Big Food on its first weekend, but look for a blogpost soon.

Slow Food Happy Hour returns tonight, February 13 from 5- 7 at New Haven’s Soul de Cuba and the “Life is Sweet” Vegan Cupcake Class is coming up at Katalina’s  Cupcakes on February 25th. 

If good, healthy food is important to you, look for a chapter of Slow Food near you. In New Haven we are fortunate to have such an energized board running our brand new chapter. They know how to work hard and have a good time. 

Have a great week. I hope to see some of you locals at one of the next Slow Food events in and around New Haven. I’ll “see” the rest of you back here next Monday.

I often blog on food or food issues on Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal  health and the health of our planet.”