I ate food from Facebook Marketplace for a week. I’ll never buy a takeaway again

Buying food from strangers is exciting, raw and a fantastic journey into different cultures

Eating out is extortionate.

Look, excuse my hyperbole (although it definitely got your attention), but that isn’t just a blanket statement I have made to sensationalise this article. I mean it.

Last week, I clocked out of work, sat on my bed and ruminated for a little while.

I had my usual mental debate about whether to start cooking dinner or doomscroll for an hour (or maybe two).

But I actually thought, ‘no, I might grab a takeaway tonight, I deserve it’.

So I opened some delivery apps, because who wants to walk two minutes down the road, and started browsing.

I quickly came to the realisation that, after delivery and service fees, I would be paying ridiculous amounts of cheddar I didn’t have to gorge on garbage slop when I could have made food at home.

It got me thinking about home cooking in general, and then I remembered seeing an advert on Facebook Marketplace for some Nigerian jollof a few days prior.

Intrigued and slightly excited, I pinged a message to the seller, and before I could add five add-ons I didn’t want to buy to my Uber Eats basket, I was on my way to Forest Fields to collect some jollof rice.

I agreed a price with the seller, Folake, originally from Nigeria, of £14 for a litre of rice, which included chicken.

Now, although I like food, I didn’t have a clue about the value I was getting here, something I later found out the hard way when I saw online that this was very cheap for the portion.

I assumed £14 was expensive, but I wanted to try something new that might beat a city-centre takeaway.

I picked up the food from a terraced house somewhere near the Forest Recreation Ground and began my feast.

There was a ton of rice (and I mean a ton), and when I removed the lid, jollof-scented steam began to fill the air above me and enter my nostrils.

Unsurprisingly, the rice was great, a completely different flavour but one I knew wouldn’t be a stranger to my taste buds any longer.

It had a rich, tomatoey and deeply savoury taste with a dash of smokiness and enough of a kick to not overpower it completely.

Then there was the chicken. Again, it was wrapped in a marinade packed with flavours I’d never encountered before, but it was delicious. Ultimately, it was responsible for the journey I was about to embark on.

While not the best-quality chicken leg, it had a distinctive savoury marinade with an almost fishy, umami-like flavour running through it.

I was hooked immediately.

Every aspect of doing this was addictive from the get-go. Home-cooked food; cuisines I’d always wanted to try; affordability unmatched compared with takeaways – the benefits of buying food from Facebook Marketplace are endless, and although there is merit in questioning a seller’s hygiene standards, it’s an experience well worth trying.

And yes, that is the elephant I’m sure has been in the room for so long it may have started making its loud trumpeting noise so loud your ears may have started bleeding profusely.

So let’s address it.

Selling food from home generally requires strict adherence to Food Standards Agency rules.

You must register your kitchen with your local council 28 days in advance, maintain clear food safety logs, follow proper allergen labelling rules, and prepare for an inspection by an Environmental Health Officer.

It’s not my job to enforce this, though, and I don’t let it stop me from enjoying delicious food. But that’s completely on me.

Over the past week, I’ve been embarking on many of these little micro journeys to Facebook Marketplace sellers.

Most live in Nottingham, but some are based in Sheffield and Birmingham.

I’ve been trying all sorts, including Tanzanian, Jamaican, Pakistani, Somali, and Thai food.

They’ve all been fantastic, and each encounter feels like a deep dive into another culture.

This is all the more pronounced whenever I enter a seller’s home, something I always marvel at because it’s such a kind gesture.

A personal highlight of mine would have to be my experience with a home-based Bangladeshi food business in Sneinton.

The first time I bought their food was a pleasure.

They invited me into their home, treated me with an almost infectious level of kindness, and even threw in some complimentary items like Bangladeshi sweets (which may be the greatest thing I’ve ever eaten).

The food was extraordinary, but the experience itself was priceless. So I knew I had to go back.

I ordered more food, went back to Sneinton a week later and was nothing short of amazed at what unfolded next.

Asma, the main chef’s sister, surprised me with some traditional Bangladeshi clothes and told me I should wear them while eating.

She said: “Nathan, we will present you with this food on one condition.

“You eat it whilst wearing our traditional dress.”

With some much-needed help from Asma, I geared up in my new outfit (traditional Lungi around my waist and Gamcha wrapped around my head).

Eating the food in this way was an awesome experience, and I genuinely felt like I’d been indoctrinated into Bangladeshi culture.

Those are just a handful of eye-opening adventures I’ve had since ordering food from Facebook Marketplace in Nottingham, and I’m sure there will be plenty more.

Today, we live in a society that’s more divided than ever.

And while that’s a rabbit hole we could venture down, I think it’s more fitting to paint the picture much more simply.

If there’s one thing we can all bond over, it’s food. I think that’s what has made this journey so special for me.

It is the thread which allows me to bond and share cultures with people from all around the globe now, and I believe even one of these experiences will open your eyes to how wonderful the world really is.

So thanks, Facebook Marketplace. I guess buying a broken, virus-filled PC from you paid off after all.