Food provides equal bargain (7)
I believe the answer is:
parsnip
'food' is the definition.
(parsnip is a kind of food)
'equal bargain' is the wordplay.
'equal' becomes 'par'.
'bargain' becomes 'snip' (slang term for a good deal).
'par'+'snip'='PARSNIP'
'provides' is the link.
(Other definitions for parsnip that I've seen before include "Tapering vegetable" , "food" , "Spar pin (anag) - vegetable" , "Sweet root vegetable" , "A white root vegetable" .)