There is
plenty of free stuff to be found in every community Urban foraging, or dumpster
diving, has become very popular in the last few decades. Well-known proponents
of the movement like the nonprofit organization Food Not Bombs began feeding
the hungry with salvaged food 30 years ago. I first learned about The Diggers
when I was interviewing the great poets Diane di Prima and Janine Pommy Vega
for Women of the Beat Generation.
The
Diggers, who came together in the 1960s in San Francisco, regularly fed around
200 people a day on donated and foraged food. They also ran free shops, threw
free parties, and started a free medical clinic.
Some
contemporary urban foragers call themselves Freegans (a composite of “free” and
“vegan”) and pride themselves on their recycling prowess. The Freegans’ mission
is to live with minimal consumption of resources and limited involvement in the
mechanisms of the conventional economy. If you fancy learning the skills
necessary for successful dumpster diving, Freegans (www.freegans.info) are the
people to contact. Active groups are listed, and some organize trash tours
where they instruct newcomers on how to scavenge safely. The basic rules are
commonsense: forage with at least one other person, always thoroughly check
food when you get home and wash as needed before eating anything, and don’t
leave a big mess at the scene of the foraging—the
rodents
will love you, but storeowners won’t!
