What in the world is a freegan? These might be your thoughts exactly when you hear someone proclaim proudly that they are not vegetarian, certainly not vegan but in fact they are... a freegan!? It is not a new radical religion or someone who just really likes freedom, instead, it's a new, eco-friendly lifestyle that is a way to save some money, get some grub, do some charity work, and help out the environment. Talk about multi-tasking!
How in the world can you do all that?
To be a true freegan, you must rummage through the garbage to find food. This is not because they are homeless, but more because they want to prove a point. The reason that they are doing what they do is because freegans are using the foods that stores throw away at the end of a work day and they are taking it home and eating it to laugh in the face of our wasteful consumer driven society. Sometimes instead of eating what they find, they take these unspoiled goods to shelters so that the food is donated to people in need, rather than taking up room in a landfill.
Our society hears "going through garbage" and immediately we are forced to twist our faces into a look of disgust, however, a freegan doesn't go through the personal trash that you took out last night and begin looking for stray gummy bears. Instead, he or she looks through what a local store discarded that was indoors on a shelf, literally, minutes ago. The items are usually in perfect or near perfect condition and unexpired. They range from snacks to even fruits and vegetables.
How in the world can you do all that?
To be a true freegan, you must rummage through the garbage to find food. This is not because they are homeless, but more because they want to prove a point. The reason that they are doing what they do is because freegans are using the foods that stores throw away at the end of a work day and they are taking it home and eating it to laugh in the face of our wasteful consumer driven society. Sometimes instead of eating what they find, they take these unspoiled goods to shelters so that the food is donated to people in need, rather than taking up room in a landfill.
Our society hears "going through garbage" and immediately we are forced to twist our faces into a look of disgust, however, a freegan doesn't go through the personal trash that you took out last night and begin looking for stray gummy bears. Instead, he or she looks through what a local store discarded that was indoors on a shelf, literally, minutes ago. The items are usually in perfect or near perfect condition and unexpired. They range from snacks to even fruits and vegetables.
n
things that weren't vegan-- and that I don't agree with. If meat
is murder and dairy is exploitation, they're still immoral even if
your money didn't support them.
A great program, I don't know if it's only in the Chicago area, is
Food Not Bombs, which I participated in for a while in high
school. People in Food Not Bombs cook [truly] vegan meals out of
dumpstered food and serve it to the needy. Many of their own food
is dumpstered, as well.
On the second anniversary of the Iraq war, I cooked and served
dumpstered vegan food to other protesters off a bench in Chicago's
Federal Plaza. I don't share a lot of those kids' other political
beliefs [a lot of them are anarchists], and I'm "only" vegetarian,
not vegan, but I'm still really proud of doing it.
There's nothing gross about dumpstered food. Most of it was
thrown away earlier that day, just hours past its "best by" date.
People who forage for their food wash it just like people why buy
it, and they cut out any unexpected bad spots just like people who
buy it. Especially for vegans, it's significant that a lot of
perfectly good produce is tossed because it isn't attractive, not
because it's not good to eat.