At 3am, Cane Vella woke up with an innovative idea – to create Malta’s first online food swap. One month on and his Facebook page has almost a thousand followers.
“I wanted to add value to food and reduce the environmental impact that waste has on our planet’s resources,” says the 30-year-old animal scientist, who works as a laboratory officer at the University of Malta.
Followers post images such as fresh oranges and lemons, wine, jam, oil or even plants on the Food Swap page and request items they would like in return. Then they arrange to meet in person to make the physical exchange.
Cane now hopes to push the idea even further by developing a kind of Tinder-style App whereby people can swipe left or right on the items they want.
He also wants business owners to pick up on the idea.
“I’m hoping that shop-keepers with fresh produce, or a bakery, for example, would swap bread which would otherwise go to waste,” he adds.
Cane – who is from a farming background – says traditions held by his family members encouraged him to try something similar in the digital age.
“I saw relatives growing up complaining about the prices they got for products, so, when they could, they would swap and barter to get by,” he said.
“Now that more people are interested in growing their own fruit and vegetables, I thought I would give this culture a boost into 2020 by providing a group where people can swap goods, reduce packaging and provide really good quality food at no extraordinary cost.”
Cane says anyone who has concerns about where the food comes from shouldn’t worry.
“Since we are not preparing our own food and just swapping what already exists, there are no special requirements.
“We do promote organic practices as much as possible and ask people to share their knowledge about how to grow things,” he said.
The Food Swap community is gaining traction and Cane is planning his first event to mark Earth Day next month, with an open food swap stall.
“I hope the idea will grow and I will never have to buy anything wrapped in plastic again as it hurts me to do so when the farmer down the road is having his produce thrown away after months of growing it,” he said.
“This has been the reality for years but it has to stop. We must be accountable for the resources our planet is offering us.”