I was in Cleveland for a couple of days hanging out with a couple friends of mine who had moved to Cleveland to found the Tiferet Jewish Artists Colony, why anyone would move to Cleveland that didn’t have to is beyond me – but they seem to be enjoying it and liking the area. They are both the struggling artist types who work for low wages and have brilliant minds.
I was the artist in residence as they helped me develop my act into something a little more marketable and try to get me to be able to tell people what it is I do “because its not stand up” in their terms it is called “performance art” so we were hanging out and my buddy Jesse says, “hey lets go Dumpster Diving”.
Jesse and Joe on a mission!
Having never gone dumpster diving for food, I have dumpster dove for books before, I was pumped. We went to a local gourmet grocery store with flashlights and bags and didn’t get into the dumpster, but found loads of cool stuff. I was explained dumpster diving etiquette, and the proper ways to dumpster dive, IE only going after closing hours, and not broadcasting the exact location of the dumpster.
We hit a gold mine and it brought me into a whole different culture, don’t get me wrong, I have friends that do this sort of thing – but I have never really done it, it was amazing and it is super fun sticking it to the man as you might say. In NYC you can go into the Anarchist book stores and they have dumpster diving maps and locations and who has the best stuff. Here are some pictures of the stuff we got.
The best finds for the night was definitely a case of green protein shakes similar to Odwala juices but a different brand, a caramel coffee cake, 2 cartons of eggs, 3 bags of organic baby aragula, 2 bags of organic pears, a box of organic grapes, bags of sunflower seeds and raw walnuts, sealed packages of smoked salmon and blintzes and some whole wheat bread, and two sealed cans of frest roasted coffee beans.
Jackpot!
I am wondering if any of my readers are into dumpster diving, if so I want to hear about it in the comments. I feel that in these rough times more an d more people will start to dumpster dive, not necessarily a good thing- although I wonder if thats what Kollel wives do on their free time to supplement their husbands learning income.
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{ 23 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow, those Dunkers are gooood!! How about sharing some of that loot yo?
I’m really impressed with what you made out with. I have dumpster dove before, but never for food and now I’m extremely tempted to do so.
i’m impressed.
Preparing for life in Texas?
How many hashgachas does arugula have?
Sounds fun.
For my complit class last year I had to watch this http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0247380/ documentary (The Gleaners & I) by Agnes Varda. Its all about gleaning in France, the sort of predecessor to todays dumpster diving. She also looks at dumpster diving too…
Basically: Its interesting. Check it out.
I remember watching it and thinking about how hungry I am and if only I didn’t keep cholov and pas yisroel… I could become a diver…
B”H
You beat me to yet another topic. I’ll write about that later.
I just stopped by to give you this:
A Hanukkah Conundrum
Why do your dumpster diving buddies look like midnight burglars from a cartoon?
trader joes is now a ‘local gourmet grocery store?’ I go shopping there cause they have cheaper cereal and stuff then the regular grocery store…
I have seen documentaries on the subject. It seems a crime that people are going hungry and stores are throwing away good food in the garbage.
Nemo-I think they were going more for Jay and Silent Bob. At least that’s the first thing I thought of when I saw them. My DH is a BIG Kevin Smith fan.
Shevers-Lots of that stuff you could eat, especially the produce and drinks. TJ’s throws out a lot of good stuff. Including past-date but not yet spoiled kosher meat. there’s a shonda!
Makes me wish I still lived in the US. NOBODY throws away perfectly good food in Israel.
You Americans sure are peculiar. Are you sure that white and green protein stuff isn’t hair conditioner?
Did everything have good hasgochos? Any heimish products?
There was a great piece on dumpster diving on This American Life a month or two ago… the guy grew up with a Dad who decided to turn it into a way of life… if I remember correctly, his Mom walked out on them because of it (but don’t let this stop you).
Thats true. Maybe I should check it out…
Looks like shoplifting more than dumpster diving, who’d have thought you can find stuff still in original packaging?
I’ve heard of diving near big companies in search of gold in old motherboards, but this is extreme.
If it’s really a subculture, network. Maybe that’s where you’ll meet your b’shert.
In college I had a little pickup truck and round the end of every semester my friends and I would do midnight raids on the dorm and frathouse dumpsters. We’d turn up appliances, consumer electronics, furniture, LPs, CDs & Cassettes, textbooks, clothing, all sorts of things.
Some nights we’d end up with so much stuff, it would be piled so high in the back that my buddies had to hang off the bumper on the way home. We’d divide up the loot based on what any one of us could use and the rest we sold off as we could and split the money evenly.
Here’s the thing though, we did NOT take food we found, we’d set that aside for the homeless who actually needed it. Somethin aint right about folks who can afford food at any level taking it from those who cant.
Rabbi’s Wife:
Jay & Silent Bob for sure! (Snoogans!)
I don’t think there is anything wrong with taking the packaged food form the dumpster. If this is in an area where homeless people generally don’t even get out to those dumpsters then you’re preventing it from being wasted.
i think its pretty fantanstic.
I know some folks who go over to Dunkin Donuts at midnight and get a garbage bag of the days donuts.
I even have some videos with commentary and everything I will post sooner or later.
Put smilies on the faces; isn’t it illegal even to take out newspapers from the garbage?