According to Freegan.info, “Freegans are people who employ alternative strategies for living based on limited participation in the conventional economy and minimal consumption of resources.”
Mark Manriquez, host of Freegan Kitchen a video blog, that teaches Freegans” how to create healthy, tasty and safe meals by using ingredients found by dumpster diving behind grocery stores.” I asked Mr. Manriquez for an interview, and he agreed.
Could you give a brief rundown of Freegan Kitchen? How long has it lasted? How regularly do you update the show?
Mark Manriquez: I still dumpster dive regularly and sometimes takes people or friends on “freegan tours” but Freegan Kitchen is in hiatus right now as I work on the Sustainable Media Lab.
What does a ‘freegan tour’ entail?
Mark: That just means I take friends or acquaintances with me when I go Dumpster Diving and explain the process to them. It reminds me of a bit of the “slum tours” that the aristocratic class went on in London during the last turn of the century.
One note: Dumpster Diving is defined as the practice of sifting through commercial or residential trash to find items that have been discarded by their owners.
Could you talk a little bit about your background? On your video blog, it is mentioned that Freegan Kitchen started in 2004 by the Do Cat Collective?
Not quite. I discovered freeganism around the same time when a couple of my college friends were involved in the performance collective called DoEat. They are the ones I credit with originally making food from dumpster diving. Later, Roberto Fredi, one of the DoEat members and I got together to do Freegan Kitchen. I went to UCSD (University of California, San Diego) where I studied Media and philosophy (focus on Normative Ethics). I just graduated in 2007, magna cum laude. I consider myself an arts activist, “leveraging the “tools of the system” to dismantle, parody and ultimately rebuild itself, whether these tools are cultural, economic or digital.
Your video blog is devoted to “finding and creating delicious healthy and quite safe meals.” What I am curious about is the finding part? Is it like never going shopping without a grocery list, but instead of a grocery store, a person is going dumpster diving? Basically, do your recipes come out of what you find, or do you come up with a recipe then look for the foods that you will need?
Mark: Both really. Sometimes you get to know a dumpster and can reliably find categories of items consistently. Sometimes you find 30 bags of salad mix. But it is fun and kind of rush when you first get started and don’t know what to expect – like a scavenger hunt. It is especially useful for art students or creative-minded individuals looking for raw materials to salvage into clever art projects since you find all sorts of odds and ends in the dumpster. You name it, chances are it is laying in a dumpster somewhere. College campuses and affluent neighborhoods can be gold mines for furniture, house wares and electronics. Food is hit and miss in the supermarket dumpsters of these areas.
Are there any particular cooking techniques or tips that must be adhere to when living a Freegan lifestyle?
Mark: Here’s what I’ve found helpful (I also have a video of Tips for Dumpster Divers on YouTube here):<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSlDzu13ytI>Dumpster Diving Etiquette• Be quiet, discrete• Be considerate – don’t leave a mess.• If you find something of value that you don’t need, place it aside for the next freegan• Bring a flashlight or headlamp• Organic produce is coded with a 5 digit PLU beginning with a 9 (Price Look-Up code), conventional food has a 4 digit PLU.• A pocket knife is also helpful• Bring a bag or something to carry your loot• Gloves are nice but optional• Early morning or later in the evening is optimal• If a worker asks you to leave, don’t argue, just move on to the next dumpster• If it smells/looks bad, it probably is.• Thoroughly scrub your produce with a brush (and I like using baking soda too)
On your video blog, mention that meats and fish should be avoided. What if, while dumpster diving, a Freegan should get in meat that looks unspoiled. Are there any preparation techniques you can offer?
Mark: I recommend using your nose – It always knows! If it smells/looks bad, it probably is – fish especially. Meats, especially processed ones like sausages, have more resistance to going bad. But a lot of the food that is found is perfectly ok
As a person with a fairly solid sweet tooth, is there any baking done on your show? If so, what do you bake?
So do I, although, my doctor has recommended I switch to agave nectar and stevia as sugar substitutes. I’m living at altitude in Boulder, CO (5280ft above sea level) and that messes with all my baking attempts. I guess the reduction in air pressure results in different baking adjustments to temperature, baking soda, etc…
I think when a person learns what a Freegan does to find food there is that yuck factor. But after reading more information on the subject, a person will find that Freegans are particular about finding food that is still wrapped in their packages and at places like the supermarket, bakeries and other food stores. You mention this on your website, that most people’s reaction(the yuck factor) is more cultural. We are taught as a society that, no matter what, we do not eat food that we find in the garbage.
How did you grow out of this cultural perception?
Mark: Good question. Well first, I think there are dual cultural taboos to overcome as a freegan. One you mentioned, the thought of eating food found or associated as garbage. The other objection I’ve encountered is just blind capitalism and its social construction: Foraging from other people’s garbage is considered wrong or even tantamount to stealing (even though courts have ruled to the contrary) to many people, even as its curbing waste. In this society, we are conditioned to pay for everything we consume in one way or another (other than the charity of society which has its own stigma). Alternatives to being a blind consumer to meet our basic needs are not encouraged. So, when we dumpster dive, we are committing simultaneous sins in many conservative, materialistic people’s eyes.
I grew up in a typical suburban family, but I was an odd little kid, haha. I’ve always been sensitive to my surroundings. I think it started in 1st grade when I drew a picture of a submarine that would travel the sea filtering out toxic waste and garbage. I think I did that out of some unconscious anxiety. But, I’ve always considered myself an environmentalist ( as well as a bit of cheapskate,) so it was a natural fit for my lifestyle. My friends kept finding amazing things from the dumpster, including food. At first, I was apprehensive to eat any of it, taking only timid bitefulls. But, I was surprised at how much perfectly good food was being thrown away (~14% by conservative estimates) and that no one really knew about it. And it also bothered me that most of our garbage was being literally entombed in landfills rather than composted or returned into the ecosystem. The United States is a culture of enormous consumer appetites (obviously) – we consume (and waste) so much but it never really seems to satisfy our desires. The impulse to buy our way out of anything is very strong, rarely questioned and conditioned into us perpetually from a very early age. I wanted to share this revelation with others.
I created FK as a way to both satirize our consumer media bubble (how better than with a cooking show?) while at the same time empower others to alternative forms of sustainability – all the while leveraging the tools of the system to critique itself
Would you be willing to give two quick and easy recipes that can be used by Freegan and non-Freegans ?
Mark: I’m really into quinoa right now(Quinoa is an amino acid-rich protein seed that has a fluffy, creamy, slightly crunchy texture and a somewhat nutty flavor when cooked) as an amazing food. My doctor recommended it to me as a wonderful alternative to rice or other simple carbs that are actually bad for you in many ways. Quinoa is great as an alteranative because its s a complete protein and very versatile – you can top it with anything and it’ll complement it/taste well. So, its great to cook when you don’t know what you’ll find in the dumpster. I’ve been using the recipes I found on the NPR site:<http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15749697> Oh, I also find a lot of bananas and like making banana ice cream – freezing then blending the banana’s with the ice cream. Yum!
What should beginning Freegan cooks know about finding, cooking and storing food found in a dumpster? What , if any difference is there between buying food at the grocery store and finding it while dumpster diving?
Mark: To the taste buds and your body – there is no distinguishable difference between the food found in the front of the store and that found in the back alley – except for the expiration date and the cost. One is entombing perfectly good food, and the other is intercepting the wasteful process.
What seasonings should every Freegan cook have on hand? Maybe this is a stupid question, can you find seasonings like salt and vanilla extract?
Mark: No, that is not at all a stupid question. Those are two important ingredients to have in baking or for crepes (I could eat those all day and sometimes do). I just stumbled upon some Morton’s Kosher Salt that was tossed out because the boxes were crushed. But cooking is pretty much the same for freegans and non-freegans alike – season to your own taste and preference. It’s just that as a freegan: you might have to scrub your produce more carefully; or boil/wash something longer; or perhaps need soak some wilted lettuce in a bowl filled with cold water, lemon juice and ice cubes to revive.
Chicago-Based Freelance Writer/Author Avis Yarbrough 
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