Barter For A Starter?
The Royal Forester near Kidderminster has seemingly very high hopes of what Worcestershire goodies might turn up as they offer credit on food, drink and even accommodation in exchange for local provender, but usually pubs will (including The Artichoke in Amersham and The Pigs in Holt) offer a free glass of wine or a pint in return for something more modest – even your own-grown fruit and veg. Got some knobbly tomatoes or a glut of courgettes? Never mind endless jars of chutney, take them down your local and see what they'll give you. In fact the Marksman pub in Shoreditch, London has given this a particularly urban slant, holding 'Barter for a Starter' evenings where they advertise for services or equipment or food they require and locals are invited to offer up their expertise or goods in return for free food. Some might even give you a free cookery class while you wait.
Of course all this to-ing and fro-ing has its roots in a far more traditional sense of community than we recognise now. Think of France, not so long ago, with villages' communal bread ovens and the baking of a gigot boulangà¨re after the bread; or Morocco where they still drop off their meals in the morning at communal firepits to pick up on the way home at night. It's a smart move on the part of the restaurant owners that they encourage not only that community feeling, but also get the best local food brought to them by people in the know.
So next time you're sitting there with your pint of Old Dickie waiting for your Sunday lunch in the local, think about taking along your own potatoes, some foraged field mushrooms or even your non-ripening green tomatoes – that Sunday lunch could be yours for free.
Eddie Gilbert's sea food restaurant in Ramsgate give you 20% of the menu price if you take your own fish. It's fishmonger underneath the main restauant will also buy your excess catch from you.