If You Bring It, We'll Cook It

In an effort to get England growing (and eating) its own vegetables, the restaurant at London’s famous St. Paul’s Cathedral is calling on diners to swap their home-grown fruits and veggies for a free meal.

Bring in a shoe box full of green-fingered goodness from your garden and you’ll be rewarded with a free Sunday lunch. Your own produce probably won’t feature in your lunch – the restaurant says it will be used during the week in specials that will be highlighted on the menu, where you’ll also get special thanks in print.

Restaurant head chef Candice Webber’s inspiration for her novel way of "food-shopping?"

"There are allotments near my house and I often go for a run past them and find inspiration for my menus from what’s growing," she told the UK's Caterer and Hotelkeeper magazine, referring to small plots of land rented to Brits who want to garden but don't have the space. "We’re really trying to encourage people to grow their own vegetables and get the message out there that you don’t need a big piece of land to do so."

The restaurant’s name for the project? The Harvest Swap Shop.

Sounds like a pretty good deal to us.

Photo courtesy Downing Street via Flickr.