I stumbled upon a new Kickstarter campaign that caught my attention because it aims to change the way we think of food and money with a dumpster diver café. Maximus Thaler, a student at Tufts University, is raising money to cover rent and utilities for the Gleaners Kitchen, an “underground restaurant” that will use foods found in dumpsters for it’s dishes. Thaler’s idea has been successful online — he’s already surpassed his initial goal of $1,500! This makes me wonder whether this campaign’s success will translate to real life.
Would you eat at a café that uses salvaged food from a dumpster?
The cheapster in me is so excited about this new concept because this can help reduce my grocery bill and cut down on food waste. Did I mention the café will serve the food for FREE to everyone who stops by? I have no problem eating perfectly good food that’s been in a dumpster. I just wouldn’t want to go digging for it in stinky trash cans. Julia is much more braver than I am — watch BB dumpster dive!
I know a lot of people will be disgusted by this concept and opposed to the idea of eating trashed food. I’m interested in seeing how the Massachusetts’ Health Department reacts to this concept when it gets off the ground.
The plan is for the café to open this summer out of an apartment where Thaler, currently a senior philosophy of science major, will live. It’ll be open 24 hours a day, with coffee, tea, and soup available at all hours. The Gleaners Kitchen will also host special events on weekends, and you’ll also be able to order meals placed via text to be delivered via bike. The menu will be determined by whatever discarded produce, herbs, meat, fish, and other ingredients are found in nearby dumpsters. Donations will be welcomed!
Thaler recently announce a new goal of $2,500. The extra cash will be used to pay for a “bike truck” to help his group gather goods during dumpster-diving runs. The pledge period ends April 18.
Have you ever been dumpster diving?
Continue reading…
- What to Buy (and Avoid Buying) in April (Wise Bread)
Welcome to Bargain Babe! I’m Mara, and I’m so glad you’re here. I am an obsessive bargain hunter and penny pincher, and I am determined to live a full life without EVER paying full price.
It’s not going to pass health department inspections.
I have a friend who has a lot of…interesting friends. (She’s an artist in the graphic novel community.) Among them are some hardcore freegans who refuse on principal to pay for food. She hates going to restaurants at conventions with them because they won’t order but then get mad when people pack their food in doggie bags to take back to the hotel rather than giving to them. They act like other people are stealing food out of their mouths by NOT giving it away.
I guess when you get used to having free stuff, you start feeling like you’re entitled to it! For me, freegan is a step too far!
Sadly, most grocery stores won’t give you their spoiled produce for compost because they’re afraid you’ll eat it and get sick from it. What a waste.
@Jenny I also doubt the health department and grocery stores will allow the Gleaners Kitchen to run… but, maybe I’m just a pessimist. I do like the idea behind the campaign of making people aware of the amount of food that is wasted. I also agree that it’s annoying when people feel entitled to free stuff, or even complain about free stuff. I mean really — it’s FREE!
@Jenny and @Yazmin Ditto on the health inspection…so this is just a PR stunt to bring attention to our nation’s food waste? I hope not all Freegans are like the friends of your friend! I have met very few freegans so I can’t say whether as a whole they have a sense of entitlement. It’s bizarre when someone sense of entitlement is so obvious to you but not them!
All freegans are a LITTLE “interesting.” I think you kinda have to be.
The student might be serious but just not know any better.
Only some are like the friends-of-friend. (She’s actually had that happen with more than one!) It’s kind of the extreme militant wing of freeganism. Anarcho-freegans, who buy NOTHING at all except for paying for housing, and they don’t pay for that if they can find ways around it. 😛
The thing is, there are LOTS of things that can be done with food that’s currently disposed of and still protect the businesses. Even benefit them! Food can be sold to farmers as pig slop, and bad veggies given away for composting, Good food that they can’t sell could be donated to homeless shelters without distorting the market. There just has to be enough incentive for companies to do this–and enough protection so that if some idiot DOES eat food that’s being given away as compost and gets sick, the business owners can’t be held liable. Litigation risks keep lots of this from happening.
I would eat there and if I didnt have food stamps I would have to DD to eat……..
@Claudia I’m guessing prices will be VERY low because they aren’t paying for any of their food!
Sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen. I don’t believe the health dept. would allow this. Probably wouldn’t be a health risk in Massachusetts in the winter but meat and fish in the humid summer – no way. Years ago I used to go dumpster diving at different Trader Joe’s late at night. It was fantastic. Everything was packaged so no stinkyness. My freezer was full of their salmon and good cuts of meat. I saved so much money. One year after the Christmas holiday they threw out tons of chocolate and other sweets and I brought home a huge trash bag full. There’s only so much chocolate you can eat so I gave a lot away to grateful friends and their dentists.
At first my mother was turned off that it came from a dumpster but after trying it, she became a convert and used to serve the chocolates to her hi brow friends without telling them. Apparently Trader Joe’s now gives their toss outs to charities or I’d still be doing it.
@Steve K I think anyone who hears about dumpster diving without experiencing it first hand would be turned off. I know my in-laws are! They still tease me about the dumpster diving video I made:
http://bargainbabe.com/2010/03/16/bargain-babe-goes-dumpster-diving/
I know there are amazing foods and produce tossed out every night, but I’m too chicken to go diving! How did you overcome your fear of getting caught – and what did you plan to say if someone found you?