By STEVEN JUPITER
PITTSFORD—What do you do when your summer garden is suddenly overrun with cherry tomatoes and you don’t have time to preserve them? Or when that 5-lb. bag of rice sits unopened on your shelf week after week and you have to admit you’re never going to make that recipe you bought it for? Instead of composting the tomatoes or letting the rice languish, what if there was a Facebook group where you could exchange what you have but don’t want for what you want but don’t have?
That’s the general idea behind the Pittsford Pantry Swap (PPS), the brainchild of Jacob Cook of Pittsford. Cook hopes that PPS will help local residents cut down on food waste and avoid the corporate food industry as much as possible.
“It’s pretty simple,” said Cook. “You can trade what you have for what you need.”
Maybe you have extra eggs but need flour. Maybe you grew too many cucumbers but want peppers. Maybe you snagged a deer and want to trade venison for pork. You go to PPS’s Facebook page and let the forum know what you have and what you’re looking for.
Cook, 30, moved to Pittsford last summer from Malone, New York, a small city not far from the Canadian border. He came to Vermont for the abundant opportunities for winter recreation—he’s an avid snowboarder—and settled in Pittsford because of its proximity to top slopes like Killington and Pico. To support himself, he works as a welder and runs a clothing company called Biscotti Streetwear that specializes in t-shirts, hoodies, and upcycled thrift-shop clothing.
PPS fits right in with Cook’s passion for upcycled clothing: nothing goes to waste.
“We can learn a lot from Native American culture,” he said. His disdain for the food industry is based not only on its wastefulness, but also on the hyper-processed state of what it offers. He’s hoping that PPS will connect people who value food they grow themselves. “I think everyone should be growing,” he added.
Though Cook’s own emphasis is on home-grown food, PPS doesn’t prohibit store bought. If you have extra cans of Campbell’s Soup or boxes of Frosted Flakes, you can post them on PPS, too. PPS does not allow alcohol or any other drugs. All packaging should be unopened with intact labels. And PPS does not take responsibility for the quality of what’s offered.
“People need to do their due diligence and inspect what’s offered,” said Cook. Neither Cook nor PPS can guarantee freshness or safety. Neither Cook nor PPS will act as go-betweens, either, aside from having created the forum. All transactions will be between the individuals conducting the exchange.
Cook said he tried to get something similar off the ground in Malone, but it didn’t catch on. Hopefully the mindset in Vermont will align more closely with Cook’s vision—almost everyone here hunts, fishes, or grows.
And though he may be based in Pittsford, Cook emphasized that PPS is for anyone in the area who’s willing to drive to make the trade.
Anyone interested in checking out the forum should find Pittsford Pantry Swap on Facebook.
In this era of high food costs, PPS can help folks keep their expenses down, get rid of food they won’t be using, and find the food they really want.
