Stigmatization of a Trash Digger

When the term trash digger is thrown around, the image that pops into my mind is that of a bum delving around in a huge dumpster behind a greasy Thai restaurant or pizza joint. But upon attending the Colloquium Series in Anthropology entitled "Food for Thought: Approaches to the Anthropology of Food," I myself benefitted from the term dumpster diving after sampling a delicious dish that contained "recovered items." Professor Ann Anagnost had made a fresh spinach frittata with the spinach she obtained while scrounging around the dumpster behind QFC on Roosevelt with David Giles.

David Giles' panel talk dealt with the issues of dumpster diving and when is food waste. He discussed how the food that generally ends up in the dumpsters and compost bins of QFC/ Trader Joe's/ Essential Bread/ Naked Juice isn't necessarily thrown away because it is no longer safe to eat. It may just have a minor dent or be approaching its expiration date. Because there is something newer and more enticing to the costumer waiting to take its place on the shelve, it is simply thrown away. 

Even after explaining this to people I know, they still find it ridiculous to imagine removing something from the trash can and using it. My boyfriend is persistent that anything I would take from a trash can would make me sick- even after I explain to him what David Giles' talked about. Maybe I will just have to force it on him and serve him some banana bread with dumpster dived bananas or a hamburger with dumpster dived onions. I speak with experience in reiterating what David Giles said about how he knew a tiny minority of people who had actually gotten ill from eating something dumpster dived, while he can name dozens of people who have fallen sick from eating Jack in the Box!