Dumpster Diving for Dinner - Freeganism explored
by amygeekgrl

I confess. I watch Oprah sometimes - not religiously, but sometimes. I TIVO the show, then take a look at the description. If it looks interesting, I'll watch it. If not, it gets deleted.

Wednesday's topic du jour mentioned something about Lisa Ling investigating the lifestyle of "Freegans." I had never heard of Freegans or Freeganism before, but I am a fan of Lisa Ling, (anyone remember her from "Channel One News" in high school?), so I decided to take a look to see what it was all about and I'm glad I did.

Freegans are "a grassroots subculture is made of people who have decided to live outside consumer society. Freegans say our culture's emphasis on buying the newest products—and throwing away perfectly fine older things—is a waste of the world's resources. Instead, they focus on buying less and use only what they need. One of the main ways freegans do this is by salvaging food and other goods from the trash."

The focus of the episode was really on how much we as Americans consume and how much we waste. What and how much do we really need to live? What void are we trying to fill as we consume and consume? Will we ever be happy?

freegansOn this episode of Oprah, Lisa Ling followed around Madeline, who previously earned a 6-figure income before becoming a self-professed freegan, and others as they went on a "trash tour" in New York, exploring dumpsters at grocery stores and bakeries for salvageable food that had been tossed. The quantity of edible food was both remarkable and disturbing in that stores are letting so much go to waste. Some of the food was slightly past its sell-by date, some was getting close to the sell-by date, and there really was no explanation as to why some of the food was in the trash. There was produce, eggs, but also a lot of packaged food, still perfectly wrapped.

The food Madeline and the others find is far from gross. "'It's not toxic waste,' she says. Much of the food is still in its original packaging and has been discarded largely for cosmetic reasons, not because of poor quality. She shows Lisa how cartons of eggs are regularly thrown away when there's one broken egg—even though there are 11 perfectly good ones remaining. Fruit is often thrown away when it has only minor dents, she says."

Official surveys indicate that every year more than 350 billion pounds of edible food is available for human consumption in the United States. Of that total, nearly 100 billion pounds - including fresh vegetables, fruits, milk, and grain products - are lost to waste by retailers, restaurants, and consumers.

Lisa and Oprah also talked with a newlywed couple, Daniel and Amanda - a doctor and civil engineer - who believe in freeganism as well. I read a bit on their blog last night. Good food for thought - pun intended. ;)

The show definitely got me thinking and I hope it did others as well. While I don't know that I'm going to run out and go dumpster diving for my dinner tonight, I admit that the idea does have it's merits, namely that by salvaging food from the dumpster you are keeping it out of the landfills. I do have my concerns regarding safety and whether or not it is legal. I noticed the people on Oprah did their dumpster diving in the dark. Is that because that's when the food has freshly been tossed or is it because they shouldn't be digging around in the dumpsters by law or both?

Ava watched some of the show with with me (I turned it off when it got to the part about the mom who works as a stripper to provide for her kids, not that I disagree necessarily, but I didn't think it was appropriate for Ava to watch) and when I half-jokingly, half-seriously talked about going shopping for our groceries in the trash next time, she commented, "I don't want to eat food out of the trash. That's gross." It spurred a good discussion between us where I pointed out that all of that perfectly edible food being wasted wasn't good either.

Eating food found in dumpsters might be too extreme for most people, but the message from the show was clear, consumerism and excessive waste in this country is out of control and something needs to change.

So what do YOU think? Do you think Americans in general consume and waste too much? Would you ever consider eating food out of the trash?

If you are interested in doing further reading, I came across some other interesting articles on the subject.

There's also a site dedicated to Freeganism - Freegan.info - including a dumpster directory and a link to "find freegans near you."It was down for a while after Oprah's show aired, but it's back online now.


Amy
Crunchy Domestic Goddess
BlogHers Act contributing editor
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Submitted by amygeekgrl (view blog) on Fri, 02/29/2008 - 10:42

Comments

 

I think it is a interesting

I think it is an interesting problem, but I am not sure dumpster diving is the way to solve it. Not only is it illegal, it is potentially dangerous for reasons beyond food born pathogens-you don't know what is in the trash-there is a risk of broken glass, human waste, box cutters, needles etc. All sorts of things could be lurking in there. Not to mention the risk of falling and hurting yourself as you hurtle your self into a 8 ft tall metal box.

It seems to me that the freegans aren't doing too much to help those who might be less fortunate then they are or to really eliminate the problem. They are just getting free food and talking about it. Where's the action?

What about starting a program where local stores donate all that food they are throwing out to a charity or soup kitchen? That would help a lot more people than just hoping someone learns by their "example".

check out my recipe blog, Coconut & Lime, my cooking review/tips site Food Maven.

Submitted by coconutlime on Fri, 02/29/2008 - 12:59
 

Better than nothing

I appreciate you sharing your thoughts, Coconut. :)

I agree that pilfering from the dumpsters here and there is not going to fix the bigger problem, but I do think their efforts are noble in a way. I am all for anything that can reduce the amount of stuff (food or otherwise) going to landfills. Whether it is self-serving or not, at least they are taking some action.

In the meantime, I am looking into organizations that do send food to charities rather than into the trash. I suspect I'll have another post on that when I have more to share.

Amy
Crunchy Domestic Goddess
BlogHers Act contributing editor

Submitted by amygeekgrl on Fri, 02/29/2008 - 14:26
 

We used to have a couple of freegans on my
campus

I remember one young woman especially well. She was active in a number of progressive campus organizations, and I often saw her at events where food was served. She made a habit of voicing her objections to meat being served or food being wasted. Needless to say, a lot of people dismissed her.

We will need to pay more attention to issues like food waste as sustainability becomes more critical. We need to get back to supporting community gardens, too. I heard Angela Davis speak recently and she was talking about a prison program where women learned to garden and were producing food for the surrounding community. They were terrified about getting out of jail because they didn't have a place to practice their trade in the neighborhoods from which they had come.

I wonder whether there could be an alliance between the freegans and the ecovillage movement, especially in urban areas?

Kim
BlogHer Contributing Editor|Professor Kim|

Submitted by Kim Pearson on Sat, 03/01/2008 - 12:11
 

Great concept

Thanks for your input, Kim. The gardening prison program is such a great concept. I found this - http://www.insightgardenprogram.org/ - and wonder if it's the one you refer to or if there are more than one. It certainly is a great way to make productive use of the prisoners' time while teaching them valuable skills and contributing to the community. I hope that this catches on it other prisons, but like you said, it is unfortunate that many of the prisoners would not have the opportunity to practice their trade once released from prison.

Amy
Crunchy Domestic Goddess
BlogHers Act contributing editor

Submitted by amygeekgrl on Sun, 03/02/2008 - 15:08
 

Noble or self-serving?

I loathe food waste. It truly angers me. I don't think dumpster diving is the way to stop it. I don't hink it noble to dumpster dive to fill your own cupboard when you can afford to buy food. Perhaps if freegans did their thing with the purpose of donating the food to the needy it could be called noble. I see it as self serving.

There are plenty of ways in which we can reduce consumption. Reduce, reuse, recycle. Reconstruct clothing. Salvage usable materials. Grow your own food. Consider transport miles and packaging impact of what you purchase.

Don't use the wasteful habits of society as an excuse for a free meal and call it noble. Call it for what it is. I don't necessarily have a problem with dumpster diving per se. Just be honest about the motives.

Blogging at http://www.kitchenplayground.wordpress.com & http://www.otherplayground.wordpress.com
"Farnham (n.) The feeling you get about four o'clock in the afternoon when you haven't got enough done." -The Meaning of Liff, Douglas Adams

Submitted by OldDani on Tue, 03/04/2008 - 01:08
 

Trend vs Need

This is a really interesting topic that I haven't heard much about before. I live in Brazil right now and all day long I watch people sift through garbage for food and goods for their families.

The difference - they are doing it out of necessity. It is so interesting to me that in the US we turn everything into a cause or a movement, sometimes doing things because they are trendy. Not saying everyone is like this, just bringing it up.

Food waste is a major problem and is multi-faceted. The consumer wants things to look 'nice' and large portions. The company/restaurant/shop wants to increase sales and please the customer. The goverment bodies overseeing food have laws and regulations in place for expiration dates etc. This all plays a role in the wasting of food.

Just like other issues such as health and weight, everyone is going to need to make a change to improve our society. It takes all parties to increase awareness and make a difference.

I couldn't eat out of dumpster, but one thing I can tell you after my experiences here in Brazil is that I am much less concerned about how produce looks. Most people would pitch the oranges I get here at the market, but they taste better than anything I've had at home. I'm grateful for this perspective.

Blondie in Brazil
Blog about my adventures living in Brazil: www.blondieinbrazil.blogspot.com

Submitted by Blondie In Brazil on Tue, 03/04/2008 - 10:33