 "Photo: Alexis Johnson")
Adam Weissman carefully sifted through large, black garbage bags on the curb.
"Anybody want a bag of sliced bread?" he asked a crowd of fellow dumpster divers outside Le Pain Quotidien on 11th Street and Broadway.
"I'll take it," a young man responded, putting his goodies into his already stuffed plastic bag, quickly filling with breads and pastries. "Hey, does anyone have another bag?" he asked. A woman handed him one; the rest of his peers wolfed down bagels they had found around the corner outside of Bagel Bob's on University Place.
The group of students and New York City residents was being led by Weissman and Janet Kalish. The pair had just wrapped up an information session at the Kimmel Center on freeganism as part of NYU's Earth Week; the event concluded with a "trash tour" of the surrounding community.
The crowd finished picking what to take, retied the garbage bags and headed towards their next destination: Trader Joe's at Union Square.
"People have learned that they can get exotic, valuable and expensive food for free," said Kalish, a Spanish teacher at Cardozo High School in Bayside. "It's hard to imagine why some of the stuff is in the garbage. ... You can literally eat 100 percent found-food."
The concept of freeganism is much more than a way to stock up on free food - it's an alternative way of living that strives to exist outside of the economy. While many think of them as nothing more than dumpster divers looking for food, appliances or furniture, many freegans live in abandoned shelters, hitchhike or walk to avoid transportation, recycle materials whenever possible and even forego employment.
Freeganism holds strong political and environmental undertones, most of which are rooted in a strong objection to America's consumption and capitalism.
"We see the capitalist environment as its own greatest enemy," Weissman said. "It is liquidating the planet's resources at a rate it can not replenish."
"[Freeganism] is being able to disconnect their lives from the capitalist economy," he added. "Freeganism is not just a personal lifestyle choice but as a productive structure for building real, sustainable alternatives."
While many seem proud of their contribution to the environment and how much money they save, others are embarrassed to admit they go around snooping through trash after business hours.
"I know a lot of people who are not comfortable letting people know they're going through the garbage for food," said freshman Andrew Hecht, a member of the NYU Earth Week committee. "It wasn't until after three or four months after I started before I told my parents I was doing it."
Hecht has been finding food to supplement his meal plan since November and has purchased little to no additional food since then.
"Next year," he said, "I don't plan on having a meal plan at all."
Marc Beja is a staff writer. E-mail him at campus@nyunews.com.
