Cook and connect

Likened to businesses like Uber and Airbnb, a new app and web site called EatWith connects home cooks with hungry strangers.

“This is really all about people craving interaction in an increasingly disconnected world,” Ms. Moskow said. “Food to me has always been a way to bring people together… (The concept of EatWith) is definitely a more personalized version of a food hall, a more one-on-one experience where you can meet the person in their home when they cook you dinner.”

Another aspect of the trend is fleet-farming, a movement allowing aspiring gardeners to farm another’s lawn in exchange for a cut of the produce sales.

“It’s a way to bring people together through the desire to create their own local agriculture,” she said.