Glasgow July 16 2010 07:39

Cookie’s Urban Gardener Barter Food Exchange Springs Into Summer With Launch of Fruit and Veg Collection Service

Launched last spring, Cookie’s Urban Gardener Barter Food Exchange has since proved so popular that the deli/restaurant has now issued a fresh appeal to gardeners and allotment growers in the southside of Glasgow for their produce with the launch of a summer fruit and veg collection service.

The idea behind the Urban Gardener Barter Food Exchange is for allotment growers to use their green fingers to grow produce for the eatery or share their excess production through an innovative barter system. Cookie, the award-winning restaurant in Glasgow’s southside, uses this locally sourced produce to offer a truly alternative means of supply to the local community.

Cookie co-owner, Domenico Del Priore, said, “The barter system has proved to be a great success and is helping to offer an alternative and more sustainable way of food production, distribution and consumption. And now we’re extending the system to offer a fruit and veg collection service direct from growers’ own gardens and allotments.

“Whether you grow apples, pears, plums or other fruits in your garden, as these become ripe, we’ll come and pick the fruit from your trees and give you jam back!

“This week our fridge is already groaning with an abundance of gooseberries, blueberries, red berries, zucchini, herbs and a chest of lettuce. From these and other ingredients supplied through our Urban Gardener Barter Food Exchange we’ve made a batch of delicious gooseberry jam, courgette and ginger jam and a variety of soups and grilled vegetable dishes.

“But we’re always on the look-out for more produce. So if you’re interested and would like to participate and help develop an exchange of local food production, we would love to hear from you.”

Mr Del Priore draws parallels with the groundbreaking urban food programme in Cuba where political and economic change forced the population to attempt an ‘organic revolution’ as the country struggled to produce enough food to survive. One way was to grow more food in urban areas, a strategy that has been supported by London’s mayor Boris Johnson, who wants to free up more urban land in the city so people can get down and dirty in the vegetable patch.

For further information about Cookie log on to www.cookiescotland.com

ENDS

For further information please contact Domenico Del Priore on tel 0141 423 1411

Issued on behalf of Cookie by Liquorice Media tel 0141 561 4018 www.liquorice-media.com

Date 16th July 2010