food museum blog

Freegans, Food Waste, Trash Tours, and Hope for Peace

Catching up on dumpster-diving news this weekend,  I  read this piece about "freegans" in the LATimes, Sept. 11. It's about New Yorkers who hit the best supermarket dumpster areas right after the garbage is put out--out back of D'Agostino's or Whole Foods they apparently find some real gems, enough to create lovely meals, stock the freezer and so on.

It seems to me the prime drawback other than possible intestinal distress and the odd rat turd, is that you cannot plan a meal. It's like shopping for clothes at Goodwill--you may go there hoping for a short black blazer but end up instead with a t-shirt from the Hard Rock Cafe in Prague.

But I digress---the freegan mission is explained this way at freegan.info:

"Freeganism is a total boycott of an economic system where the profit motive has eclipsed ethical considerations and where massively complex systems of productions ensure that all the products we buy will have detrimental impacts most of which we may never even consider. Thus, instead of avoiding the purchase of products from one bad company only to support another, we avoid buying anything to the greatest degree we are able. "

Or, as former Barnes & Noble bigwig Madeline Nelson puts it in the LA Times piece,

""We're doing something that is really socially unacceptable," Nelson said. "Not everyone is going to do it, but we hope it leads people to push their own limits and quit spending."

So now we have "eating locally,"  the Joan Gussow, Barbara Kingsolver, Michael Pollan, etc etc etc concept, we have No Impact Man, a New Yorker seeking ways to live off the grid, without plastic, t.paper, et al,  and the family that stopped buying anything from China for an entire year--A Year Without "Made in China,": One Family's True Life Adventure in the Global Economy, AND the freegans, who are truly pushing the envelope of how to get one's food. 

New York City throws away 50 million pounds of food a year--of that about 20 million pounds go to charitable groups.  Much more about massive edibles tossed away is chronicled at Jonathan Bloom's blog, Wasted Food.

To delve further into the freegan world you can follow up on these tips from the LATimes article.

"In recent years, Internet sites like Meetup.com have posted announcements for trash tours in Seattle, Houston and Los Angeles and throughout England. Some teach people how to dumpster-dive for food, increasing the movement's popularity. At least 14,000 have taken the trash tour for groceries over the last two years in New York. Another site, Freegankitchen.com, offers lessons for cooking meals from food found in dumpsters, such as spaghetti squash salad."

The late John Niederhauser, PhD, our friend and founding board member of The Potato Museum, said in his acceptance speech for the World Food Prize that feeding the world's people was the most critical challenge facing those who want peace in the world.

Younger persons around the world seem to be staking out eco-appropriate positions, pursuing "off the grid" projects--(I hope they are not all just out to write catchy, trendy books...) but where are the peaceniks? OR--  Is this the 21st century path to peace? 

Foodie Views from Brisbane to Brooklyn

A foodie blog of interest and a food column have turned up in Foodie's email, thank you. The first is called The Old Foodie, not because the writer, based in Brisbane, Queensland, is particularly ancient,  ( 58??!!)  but presumably because her specialty is a daily dollop of words on food history. Currently she's reporting on the food of WW II, UK-style. Today's entry tells about Nella Last, a British housewife who whose wartime diary, "Nella Last's War," gives readers the inside scoop on "pieces of most unpleasant beetroot" and other 1941 edible materials.

The column by Marjory Garrison is What's for Dinner? and it appears in the Brooklyn Rail, an alternative non profit publication with a lively website. 

Here's how Marjory describes her offering:  "Each column visits the kitchen, grocery lists, and eating habits of an individual or family in Brooklyn to examine the life ingredients that inform their decisions about food and nutrition. It's a kind of "politics of the plate" adventure.

The column has featured an 81-year-old Dominican woman who, with her modest social security check, feeds much of her neighborhood block; a young family new to Red Hook, a neighborhood where candy outnumbers vegetables on the shelves of local markets 2 to 1; and a couple living in Brighton Beach who remember when dinner was called "supper" and milk was as thick as the glass bottles on the doorstep. "

(Illustration from The Old Foodie site.)

Super Chefdom

Rock stars are imploding into black holes these days, but chefs are shining brightly in the celebrity firmament.  Juliette Rossant keeps track of their trajectories in books--she's the author of " Super Chefs" ---but also on her Superchefblog.

The intro to her book defines what makes a chef super, as compared to say, fabulous, quirky or merely sublime.

"A number of ingredients go into making Super Chefs. Their businesses reach geographically outside one city and beyond restaurants into other businesses. They are celebrated for their cooking talents and bedazzling, media-savvy ways. They manage large businesses, building brand names and personal wealth unheard of before among chefs.  Their business empires are enduring."

If you have a hankering to elevate a favorite chef to the super pantheon level, check out Juliette's blog and click on Vote for White House Guest Chefs.  You may vote for one of Juliette's picks, or suggest your own.

But, come on, how tough is it to turn out PB&J sandwiches?  No, sorry, the voting is for an Executive Chef at the White House.  The incumbent, Walter Scheib, has been twiddling his thumbs and yawning for the past four years.   According to the Washington Post, George W. Bush held only four state dinners during his first term in office. ( His Dad had 41 during his four years.)    Chef Scheib will stay on until a replacement is named.

Chefs image thanks to www.utilikilts.com