consumed with less: not buying any food

For a new wave of ethical eaters, grocery carts are giving way to garbage bags. JENN GEAREY investigates the new junk food

JENN GEAREY
The Globe and Mail
January 15, 2006

Forget buying brie from local producers. Or stocking up on strictly organic oranges. Or even insisting on cruelty-free tofu chops instead of four-legged fry-ups. The latest wave of ethical eaters are opting out of the grocery-food chain entirely — and into dumpster dining.

Called freegans, urban foragers, opportunivores, these social activists are so repulsed by the food waste in developed countries — and the larger politics of the food industry — they rifle through trash cans to salvage “corporate leftovers” for their meals.

And, although exact figures are hard to gauge, the number of dedicated food rescuers seems to be on the rise. Bands of London “skip lickers” have made headlines in England, and in the United States, where the freeganism movement originated, there are now 700 members on a discussion board for dumpster divers and monthly “trash tours” in New York.

In Canada, the Co-op sur G