California professionals dine out of Dumpsters
PALO ALTO, Calif. - Cynthia Powell and Stephen Vajda are unabashed Dumpster divers who get much of their weekly food from garbage cans.
The two educated Berkeley, Calif., professionals - who are not hungry or otherwise in need - say they are motivated by a growing conservation movement with a mantra that wasting resources, especially food, is shameful. Powell and Vajda estimate they can save up to $100 a week by dining on day-old bread, vegetables and sometimes chocolate from commercial garbage cans. The two estimated they know at least a half dozen like-minded people in Berkeley who regularly dine out - way out. “I’m not hungry,” said Powell. “I do it because it’s good food, it’s free and it’s conservation.”
Powell said she’s been getting in Berkeley Dumpsters at grocery stores and bakeries ever since she moved to town about four years ago. She draws the line at eating meat or dairy products.
These people won’t touch meat and dairy but they’ll eat lettuce out of trash bins. Hey, what about the homeless people walking around in Palo Alto? It’s bad enough that they can’t get into fine restaurants - nowadays, even their dumpsters are being gentrified!!
