Instead of your traditional braai for this year’s Heritage Day, why not consider a food swap party?
Food swapping is a trend that has been growing. How it works is that people make homemade goods and then bring them to a location where they can exchange them for what other people have made.
A food swap is a nice way to do something different on Heritage Day, celebrate the pleasure of food, perhaps make new friends, and prevent you from having to buy a meal because you can get an interesting one for free!
Food Swap 101
Here are some tips to help you host a fabulous food swap this year.
- Get friends to cook or bake dishes they feel most confident about, and then invite them over with their items. Make sure you create some tantalizing treats of your own that people will love to sample!
- Let people bring different cuisine to the party so that there will be a variety of tastes to enjoy – and it prevents everyone from bringing the same thing.
- Make it personal. You can decide on a theme for your food swap if you like, which can be really fun. Maybe you want a desserts-only party or one that is purely vegan. You could have a ‘local is lekker’ theme (in line with Heritage Day) or you could even host a baby food swap for new moms! Consider different alternatives to intrigue your guests into coming up with cool ideas.
- Your food swap will need a bit of order if it is going to run smoothly and prevent people from bickering over who gets the tiramisu. When people arrive at the party, let them sample and study items that have been brought. If they like any of the items and would want to take them home, then they can put their names on them. Someone will then also swap with yours, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be the person whose food you chose. Some food swap parties have people bidding for items, but you don’t have to do this at your event.
Good For the Earth
When presenting your fabulous foods, make sure you use packaging that is kind to the earth – biodegradable and reusable items that won’t go to waste. It’s also a good idea to use see-through containers so that everyone will be able to view the homemade goods easily.
Enjoy!
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