dumpster diving in the big apple

Those of you who are into reading left wing literature or offbeat magazines will have heard of the Freegans by now. They are a group that started (I think) in New York and can now be found across the globe, in any city that leaves its commercial rubbish on the streets for collection.

I had read about the Freegans some time ago, so when my couchsurfing host Kate invited me to a Freegan tour on a freezing Monday night, I accepted with enthusiasm. The tour began at a Vegetarian Cafe, from where we scoured the streets for cafes, supermarkets and - the Holy Grail of Freeganism - bakeries. In the early evening, each of these places discards the day's out of date produce (in the case of bakeries the products are usually fresh from that morning). In the interim between the trash going out and the rubbish trucks collecting it, the bags are left on the streets and with the weather several degrees below zero, it was perfectly refrigerated.

We started at a supermarket and put all the food out as a display to show how much we found. There were tomatoes, limes, several punnets of gourmet hummus, tubs of yoghurt, bread rolls, bunches of herbs and even a beautiful collection of tulips and some pink carnations. In ten minutes of rummaging through the bags we had enough food to feed all twelve of us for several days.

The next few shops yielded similar results until finally we arrived at the bakery. Chocolate and blueberry muffins, bagels, rolls, apple turnovers and meat bondas were added to my shopping bag.

By this time, we were frozen. My fingers and toes were throbbing with what I was certain must be the onset of frostbite, but I had in my possession enough gourmet food to last me for the entire ten days I was to spend in New York.

The only mild irritation was the inevitable hippy speech. Apparently by going through rubbish for free food we are able to 'remove ourselves from the system of oppression'. Yes, feeding the world is all one giant system of oppression. As they say in Team America - "there are these corporations, and they're all corporation-ey". The consumers who refuse to buy limes because they have a spot on them have nothing to do with it. The only way I managed to wrest control of my tongue enough to keep it quiet was by reminding myself that it would soon be tasting the delights of free food - free not only in the monetary sense but also in the freedom from oppression sense. How wonderful.

www.freegan.info - worth a look