Why do European students eat out of trash cans? Freegans are ideological seekers of free food in the concrete jungle

During the Soviet Union, gullible citizens were often told that in the “decaying West” the poor were forced to look for food in garbage containers. It would seem that these propaganda tales are now a thing of the past. However, in recent years in America there has been a rapidly growing number of people who specifically look for food in garbage dumps. These are not homeless people or sick people. These are freegans.

For an ordinary person, a garbage dump is an accumulation of garbage, garbage, where unnecessary rubbish and spoiled food are thrown out. This place seems so unpleasant that few people would think of taking things from the trash heap, much less looking for food there. It is believed that this is the lot of completely degraded people: homeless people, alcoholics, beggars.

From time to time, Russian television shows huge landfills, where grimy little people crawl through impressive mountains of garbage, trying to find something useful (for example, clothes or parts made of non-ferrous metals). Pretty journalists, driving away flocks of garbage seagulls with their hands, say into the camera that one of the inhabitants of the garbage dump has earned a fortune by looking for valuables among the waste.

Perhaps such a report might inspire some homeless person near the station to rummage through the nearest trash heap, but to an ordinary person this idea still seems disgusting.

If you don’t eat it yourself, give it to someone else

The situation in America is completely different. Of course, there are also homeless people there, who are always not averse to rummaging through the nearest trash can. However, in recent years, more and more young and successful people who have well-paid jobs and good housing are going to the trash heap rather than to the nearest supermarket to buy food for dinner. But they do this not out of poverty, but, so to speak, for ideological reasons.

The freegan movement arose in America at the very end of the 20th century. The word “freegan” is formed from two English words: “free” (free) and “vegan” (full vegetarian). Actually, freeganism was originally one of the radical types of vegetarianism. As you know, vegetarians do not eat animal products. Freegans also adhered to a vegetarian diet, but left themselves a small loophole: you can eat meat products if you get them for free.

Over time, freeganism separated from vegetarianism and became an independent social movement. Freegans began to get from garbage dumps not only meat, but also other products, as well as clothes, household appliances and in general everything that was necessary for life. They don't go into dumpsters because they can't afford to buy groceries at the store. Freeganism for them is a lifestyle, a kind of philosophy.

Western economics researchers have been sounding the alarm for a long time. According to experts, from 27 to 50% of food products that go on sale in the United States never reach the consumer and end up in the trash. Moreover, very often these products are not expired, but are quite edible. For example, if in a large batch of tomatoes received in a container, several fruits turn out to be spoiled, then the entire batch is sent to the trash. It is cheaper for a company to throw away a container than to hire someone to sort vegetables.

Freegans, most of whom are educated young people with leftist views, believe that in a situation where people are dying of hunger in developing countries, throwing millions of tons of edible food into the trash is a crime.

They are trying to prove the depravity of the capitalist system not in word, but in deed. By getting food from garbage cans, they clearly show society that they should not be so wasteful.

In America, the number of freegans is growing rapidly. According to the testimony of Russian emigrants in New York, journalists line up in long lines to interview the leaders of the movement, and 2-3 freegans, several film crews and a dozen “sharks of the pen” come for demonstration “walks through garbage dumps.”

American trash - fun and tasty!

One should not think that Western freegans, like Russian homeless people, go with string bags to large landfills and there they try to pick up something edible for themselves where the garbage has not yet been leveled by a bulldozer. American freegans look for food in dumpsters of restaurants and supermarkets.

As a rule, employees of such establishments carefully pack in clean plastic bags those products that are about to expire, or those whose packaging is slightly dented. At the end of the working day, these bags are taken outside and placed in clean garbage containers that stand in the backyard. This is where the freegans appear from the darkness.

Their task is simple: open the containers, take out the bags and sort out their contents, separating what is edible from the truly spoiled food. They say that these are extremely rare. Freegans hide packages of edible products in their backpacks and rush home to cook dinner. Typically, food from the trash can and food from the supermarket are not much different. But you don’t have to pay for the first ones.

It must be said that freegans treat their own kind very warmly. Their main website www.freegan.info provides detailed recommendations on how to distinguish spoiled foods from normal ones, which goods it is better not to take, in short, how to eat from the trash without getting sick.

Freegans living in New York are even luckier. For them, the same website contains detailed instructions on where and in what mode the most “delicious” garbage dumps operate. It describes in detail which trash container lovers of exotic cuisine should look into, at what time they throw bags in the trash near one of the most pretentious restaurants, and which establishment has a particularly rich selection of discarded products. This is a kind of culinary guide for those who walk through garbage dumps.

In short, in the civilized world, eating in garbage dumps is truly safe and convenient. They say that some of our emigrants take advantage of this. But they are not doing this out of lofty anti-globalist considerations. And just like that... to save money.

If you don't lie around, you don't eat

But in Russia, apparently, the Western fashion for freeganism will not come soon. And not at all because we have no opponents of the capitalist consumer society. It’s just that domestic garbage containers look... not very appetizing.

Owners of Russian restaurants and supermarkets are in no hurry to carefully put expired goods in bags and put them out on the street. What’s more, homeless people will come running in and scare away decent customers. It’s better to let everything rot so that no one gets anything. And this is not the worst option.

Sometimes, in pursuit of profit, stores continue to sell expired products. They say that a smart person won’t buy expired goods, but a fool deserves it, it’s his own fault. The main thing is to pay the money to the cashier. In addition, there is a sure way to sell such a product by announcing a discount. In short, civilized capitalism does not threaten us yet. And if suddenly anyone wants to enjoy something tasty in the trash heap, you are welcome to come to America! The freegans there can't handle all the food anyway.

Mikhail Alekseevsky

What kind of phenomenon is this - a struggle for the environment, an example of moderate consumption, a protest against generally accepted norms? In the United States, the number of people who specifically look for food in garbage dumps is growing rapidly. These are not homeless people or sick people. These are freegans.

Garbage cans on the streets serve us to dispose of household waste and nothing more. This way we don’t accumulate garbage in our homes or throw it out on the city streets. And eating waste is completely beyond our level. Homeless people, alcoholics and beggars consider garbage dumps their second home, and, as practice shows, they don’t want to change anything, with rare exceptions. But, as it turns out, they are not the only ones - orderlies of society and the hierarchical pyramid, only in the world of people, not animals.

Often the plot of one of the evening news reports is the story of how a homeless person found a fortune in the trash, just thrown out by someone. Probably stopped liking it. But none of us will go to the trash heap tomorrow to enrich ourselves, except perhaps another beggar inspired by the spoils of our neighbor. For us, as before, the landfill will remain a disgusting place.

If you don’t eat it yourself, give it to someone else

The situation in America is completely different. Of course, there are also homeless people there, who are always not averse to rummaging through the nearest trash can. However, in recent years, more and more young and successful people who have well-paid jobs and good housing are going to the trash heap rather than to the nearest supermarket to buy food for dinner. But they do this not out of poverty, but, so to speak, for ideological reasons.

The freegan movement arose in America at the very end of the 20th century with the advent of generation Y. The word “freegan” is formed from two English words: “free” (free) and “vegan” (full vegetarian). Actually, freeganism was originally one of the radical types of vegetarianism. Freegans adhered to a vegetarian diet, but left themselves a small loophole: you can eat meat products if you get them for free.

Over time, freeganism separated from vegetarianism and became an independent social movement. Freegans began to get from garbage dumps not only meat, but also other products, as well as clothes, household appliances and in general everything that was necessary for life. They don't go into dumpsters because they can't afford to buy groceries at the store. Freeganism for them is a lifestyle, a kind of philosophy.

Western economics researchers have been sounding the alarm for a long time. According to experts, from 27 to 50% of food products that go on sale in the United States never reach the consumer and end up in the trash. For example, if in a large batch of tomatoes several fruits turn out to be spoiled, then the entire batch is sent to the trash. It is cheaper for a company to throw away a container than to hire someone to sort vegetables.

Freegans, most of whom are educated young people with leftist views, believe that in a situation where people are dying of hunger in developing countries, throwing millions of tons of edible food into the trash is a crime. And in this, of course, they are right, but this does not reduce the number of starvation deaths in Africa.

American trash - fun and tasty!

American freegans look for food in dumpsters of restaurants and supermarkets. As a rule, employees of such establishments carefully pack in clean plastic bags those products that are about to expire, or those whose packaging is slightly dented. At the end of the working day, these bags are taken outside and placed in clean garbage containers that stand in the backyard. This is where the freegans appear from the darkness.

It must be said that freegans treat their own kind very warmly. Their main website www.freegan.info provides detailed recommendations on how to distinguish spoiled products from normal ones, and which products are best not to take.

Freegans living in New York are even luckier. For them, the same website contains detailed instructions on where and in what mode the most “delicious” garbage dumps operate. It describes in detail which trash container lovers of exotic cuisine should look into, at what time they throw bags in the trash near one of the most pretentious restaurants, and which establishment has a particularly rich selection of discarded products. This is a kind of culinary guide for those who walk through garbage dumps.

If you don't lie around, you don't eat

In Russia, freeganism is a utopian phenomenon for a number of reasons. (If not, let us know). Our garbage dumps are unappetizing - everything falls into one heap - food, batteries, bags, used sneakers. What's edible here? Where there is at least some culture of cleanliness and separate waste, this would be possible, but for now this is the privilege of such areas of elite housing, where the trash cans are almost under lock and key. Freegans are not allowed!

Owners of Russian restaurants are in no hurry to separate leftovers from slightly spoiled products or products with dented packaging, but simply throw them away, when in the United States a chef can sort into “edible and inedible” and leave food in a bag at the back of the restaurant for the poor and needy. Many companies are involved in charity work, but for some reason they cannot do simple things. Well, if anyone suddenly wants to feast on something tasty in the trash heap, you are welcome to come to America! The freegans there can't handle all the food anyway.

The freegan movement has emerged relatively recently in America, but the number of its activists is growing rapidly throughout Europe. Freegans, most of whom are educated young people with leftist views, believe that in a situation where people are dying of hunger in developing countries, throwing millions of tons of edible food into the trash is a crime. They are trying to prove the depravity of the capitalist system not in word, but in deed. Foraging for food in trash cans, they clearly show society that one should not be so wasteful.

The word “freegan” is formed from two English words: “free” (free) and “vegan” (full vegetarian). Actually, initially freeganism was one of the radical types of vegetarianism, but over time it turned into an independent social movement. Freegans get from garbage dumps not only meat, but also other products, as well as clothes, household appliances and in general everything that is necessary for life. They don't go into dumpsters because they can't afford to buy groceries at the store. Freeganism for them is a lifestyle, a kind of philosophy.

Western economics researchers have been sounding the alarm for a long time. According to experts, from 27 to 50% of food products that go on sale in the United States never reach the consumer and end up in the trash. Moreover, very often these products are not expired, but are quite edible. For example, if in a large batch of tomatoes received in a container, several fruits turn out to be spoiled, then the entire batch is sent to the trash. It is cheaper for a company to throw away a container than to hire someone to sort vegetables.

Don’t think that Western freegans, like Russian homeless people, go with string bags to large landfills and there they try to pick up something edible for themselves where the garbage has not yet been leveled by a bulldozer. American freegans look for food in dumpsters of restaurants and supermarkets. As a rule, employees of such establishments carefully pack in clean plastic bags those products that are about to expire, or those whose packaging is slightly dented. At the end of the working day, these bags are taken outside and placed in clean garbage containers that stand in the backyard. This is where the freegans appear from the darkness.

Their task is simple: open the containers, take out the bags and sort out their contents, separating what is edible from the truly spoiled food. They say that these are extremely rare. Freegans hide packages of edible products in their backpacks and rush home to cook dinner. Typically, food from the trash can and food from the supermarket are not much different. But you don’t have to pay for the first ones.

It must be said that freegans treat their own kind very warmly. Their main website www.freegan.info provides detailed recommendations on how to distinguish spoiled foods from normal ones, which goods it is better not to take, in short, how to eat from the trash without getting sick.

Freegans living in New York are even luckier. For them, the same website contains detailed instructions on where and in what mode they work. the most “delicious” garbage dumps. It describes in detail which trash container lovers of exotic cuisine should look into, at what time they throw bags in the trash near one of the most pretentious restaurants, and which establishment has a particularly rich selection of discarded products. This is a kind of culinary guide for those who walk through garbage dumps.

The freegan movement is gaining momentum throughout Europe; on YouTube you can find dozens of educational and educational videos showing both the nightly forays of garbage food getters and detailed instructions for finding, using correctly and preparing dishes from products found in the trash.

How to become a freegan?

* Get gloves and a flashlight.

* Do not go where “No Trespassing” is allowed.

* Be sensible and throw away anything you doubt.

* Around the container after you should be as clean as before you arrived.

* If there was nothing in the container yesterday, this does not mean that there will be nothing there tomorrow.

*Small and medium-sized stores are usually the best: the larger ones lock the containers.

* Wash anything you find before using it.

But in Russia, freeganism is unlikely to take root: our garbage dumps do not look very appetizing, frankly, and manufacturers are in no hurry to part with even stale goods, but sell them for money at all costs: in domestic stores you can so often find expired products that sometimes you involuntarily become a freegan. True, for your own money.

Based on materials Medical portal and Inopressa.ru

The freegan movement reached its greatest flourishing in Sweden, the USA, Brazil, South Korea, Britain and Estonia.

Etymology of the name

The term "freegan" appeared in the mid-nineties. The author of the term, apparently, is Warren Ochs, drummer of the band Against Me!, who in 1999 wrote the freegan manifesto - the pamphlet “Why Freegan?” The word freegan comes from the word vegan, which is what radical vegetarians call themselves. This is because most freegans also support the basic tenets of the vegan movement.

Prerequisites for the occurrence

The earliest forerunners were the organization Food Not Bombs, as well as the anarchist troupe of street performers Diggers, which existed in the sixties in San Francisco and fundamentally did not buy food and did not use paid social services (the latter is typical not only for them; the most radical Rastafarians deny official medicine , Bob Marley famously refused surgery, which cost him his life). According to Bob Torres, a sociology professor at St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, the freegan movement has become so popular because of growing public frustration with the failures of the environmental "mainstream." Torres points out that greens don't always think about how many natural resources are required to produce the natural, organic foods they eat.

The ideology of freeganism

As Weissman says, the freegan seeks to oppose himself to a consumer society based on competition, immoralism, conformism and greed. Therefore, a freegan should consume only the necessary minimum, help others and be generous.

The main goal of freegans is to minimize or completely eliminate their financial support from corporations and thereby stop the globalization of the world economy, to distance themselves as much as possible from the society of uncontrolled consumption.

They usually eat foods that were rejected before entering supermarkets and thrown away fresh. These products are usually edible, and the reason they ended up in the trash is because one sample from the batch turned out to be substandard. Many of them also dress in items found in the trash heap and have household items that were also defective or someone else threw in a used container. They exchange some of the non-food items they find at flea markets for things they need, without recognizing monetary relations.

Freegans have their own laws, their own code of honor. Thus, freegans only rummage through the trash bins of supermarkets and apartment buildings; everything that is lying around in the backyards of private houses cannot be used. For safety reasons, freegans never dig into medical waste containers near clinics.

The code of honor prohibits freegans from climbing into containers located in closed areas in search of prey. Freegans are required to keep trash cans clean, leaving them in better condition than they were before their visit, to make the job easier for the freegans who come there next. Freegans should not take documents or papers with any confidential records from the boxes; interference in the personal lives of people based on finds from the trash heap is strictly prohibited.

Freeganism and vegetarianism

Freeganism in Russia

The ensemble "Table-Chair-Walls", playing improvisational instrumental music, called their first album "Look in the trash heaps" and distributed it in Moscow trash cans, inviting listeners to bypass the consumer chain.

see also

Notes

Links

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

About a third of all food produced in the world annually (about 1.3 billion tons) ends up in the trash. Such information is provided in one of the latest reports of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. Moreover, with reasonable consumption, these figures could be reduced by at least 80%. In contrast to such statistics, a freegan movement arose in Western Europe. The Telegraph has compiled a dictionary that will help distinguish freegans from vegans and homeless people.

Alternative - the need to choose one of two or more mutually exclusive possibilities, which freegans decided by fundamentally abandoning excesses and culinary delights, opposing the consumer society in favor of the environment.

The founder of freeganism is the drummer of the group Against Me! Warren Oaks. In the late 90s, he coined the term freegan, and also wrote a freegan manifesto - the pamphlet “Why Freegan?” The word freegan itself comes from free - “free, free” and vegan - “veganism”. This is what radical vegetarians call themselves, and this is due to the fact that most freegans also support the main provisions of the vegan movement. But freegans use landfills and garbage containers for food. Unlike the homeless and beggars, freegans do this because they do not want to be part of a consumer society. However, there are those who simply hide behind ideology in order to save money.

Free market - garbage dumps, places near restaurants and grocery stores.

In the US, expired or unhealthy products are carefully bagged and then placed in clean containers. There is even a special service Trashwiki - an overview of garbage dumps indicating specific places and recommendations for freegans. In Russia, the necessary information is still reluctant to share. To find a trash can where the necessary products regularly appear, you will have to go around many gateways and use all your communication skills to negotiate with a supermarket security guard or the owner of a vegetable shop. If you are lucky, they may simply give you food, which will then be thrown away anyway after some time.

Free fast food - food that you can finish in a cafe.

For Russian adherents of freeganism, this is not scraps, but free food. This could be, for example, a bitten hamburger or a fallen pasty. But, as freegans themselves admit, finding food left in a cafe today is not so easy. Too many people today try to save money and don’t order too much. In addition, uninvited visitors are often kicked out of some cafes. However, in other countries it may be even more difficult. To reduce the amount of food thrown away, some restaurants even impose fines. They first appeared in restaurants in Hong Kong, where the territory of the state itself is small and there is little space for garbage. For each uneaten sushi they charge an additional $1.5. There are also restaurants in the United States that warn that visitors will be charged a fine for uneaten dishes, which can amount to up to a third of the order price.

Prey or catch - this is something that is not only eaten, but also photographed and then proudly posted on social networks, usually anonymously. (It’s rare that freegans in Russia tell their relatives and friends about their beliefs).

The catch could be broken tartlets, expired sausage, yoghurt, a slightly rotten apple or darkened bananas. You may find cakes, pastries or canned goods. The main thing, experienced freegans advise, is not to take food without an expiration date or when the food is expired by more than two or three days. You must also not forget about careful heat treatment.

Health- freegans eat irregularly and, to put it mildly, unbalanced.

Hardly any nutritionist can recommend such a diet. Fruits are often spoiled and dairy products are expired. In addition, rarely do any freegans eat meat or fish, some for ideological reasons, others because meat requires more stringent storage conditions. In addition, it is rarely thrown away. At the same time, freegans unanimously claim that it is impossible to get poisoned by eating from a garbage dump. Most freegans either really choose their foods very carefully, or their beliefs are so strong that they do not connect the causes of their illnesses with their eating style.

The reaction of others - The attitude towards freegans in society can hardly be called friendly. There are either those who are ready to eat from garbage dumps themselves, or those who do not understand them at all.

On various forums on social networks you can see the following phrases: “My opinion is that there are certain standards of hygiene and sanitation, and, of course, there should be at least some moral principles.” “Only individuals who do not have the slightest self-respect can do this. Well, we’re not animals to eat from garbage dumps.” “I consider their behavior a challenge to society, leading nowhere except to a hospital bed with food poisoning. It’s either a disease or a deviation.”

The main answer of a freegan: “The main idea is not saving money, but saving natural resources, reducing the amount of garbage and taking care of the environment. Often freegans are supporters of Greenpeace, sort garbage whenever possible, donate recyclable materials, etc.”

Student - the most common variety of freegan in Russia.

The idea, which arose in Western Europe and the USA, has noticeably transformed in Russia. If abroad it is rather an ideology, then here we often have a way to save money. Due to overconsumption and overproduction, a significant part of the contents of garbage dumps in developed countries turns out to be quite edible and even rarely expired. In Russia, you have to make a lot of effort and forget about the feeling of disgust in order to find something interesting. This would probably be something that someone who is forced to save money would rather dare to do, and this is exactly what most students do.

Feeling of disgust - in freegans it is almost completely atrophied.

A real freegan will be able to get a piece of fruit or an open bag of chips out of a trash can, even if a rat or cockroach has just run across it. At the same time, freegans who hide their beliefs may offer their prey to unsuspecting friends. So, on one of the forums, a freegan girl shared her personal experience: “One of my friends doesn’t know about my lifestyle, I don’t tell her, because... she won’t communicate with me, but I’ve been friends with her for many years and don’t want to lose communication. If I know she’s coming, I leave the best for her so she doesn’t suspect it’s not from the store.”

Food sharing - exchange of food.

Volunteers first collect unwanted food and then distribute it to those in need. There are even special distribution tables. For example, in Germany there are about 900 of them. In Russia the movement is not very popular. So far, these are only groups on social networks, where those who wish are offered food that they did not have time to eat before the vacation, or surplus from their garden.