Holiday Dinner from the Dumpster

My first reaction was “eeeeeeeeewwwwwwwww!”, then I read on.

A group in New York, who call themselves “freegans,” regularly go through dumpsters behind food shops in Manhattan and elsewhere, scoring free food in still-wrapped, perfectly good condition. Some food may be close to expiring, and some produce may have a few bruises on it, but all is still edible and being thrown away by the ton.

Last weekend, the freegans had a dinner party made from the finds of the previous evening, featuring crackers and smoked mozzarella cheese, eggplant parmesan, and mixed greens salad with avocado dressing—all from the dumpster. This holiday will be celebrated with the finds from the previous evening as well.

The group in Manhattan started out as vegans, but has grown to include regular diners as well. A doctor has even been posting on their website about food safety issues to observe when diving for this treasure, such as avoiding dented, rusty, or bulging cans, anything not wrapped except produce, bakery items that are past their sell-by date, moldy or otherwise rancid items, and meats and dairy items. He also offers tips on where the best digging can be had.

He and other doctors condone this practice, as long as standard food safety precautions are observed.

One freegan says he has eaten free from the streets of Manhattan for the past 10 years, and plans to keep on doing it until he dies.

*Note from the Wench: I’ve seen these people on the news, and their finds are usually bagged separately from the regular trash (as if the shops were purposely leaving it out for them). Some states and the tax code look at waste as a deductible item, and want it made into REAL waste by rendering it useless by anyone else (through shredding or compacting). Donations to food banks and re-sale “out the back door” don’t qualify for the deduction. And let’s not forget the liability issue. Apparently, the waste write-off is more lucrative than the charitable contribution write-off. Meanwhile, so many go starving in this country…and so many food banks go under-funded and under-stocked.

I have done a little dumpster diving myself while looking for moving boxes, and found cases of fruit punch behind a Dollar General store. Unfortunately, the bottles were badly crushed down at the top, and rendered useless. When I was a kid, I dumpster-dove beside an industrial park that held a Frito-Lay warehouse, and struck it rich with cases of chips and candy—so much that I had to recruit my friends into helping me bring it all home. All items were still wrapped, intact, and within their sale date—I don’t know why they were being thrown out.

Now I’m too old and cranky to dumpster dive.