5 ms·

Food is the one I’m interested. Food banks and the like?

VictorPath 5y ago
Some bagel shops, restaurants etc. throw out excess food at the end if the day. Supermarkets might throw out bread etc. one day past sell-by date (I forget the supermarket details). It's a social thing really. Food Not Bombs would gather food from dumpsters (more excess food than half-eaten rolls), then eat communal meals in parks along with any hungry or homeless people. Fancy restaurants throw away unused food, people are hungry and don't have much money for food, FNB puts it together for free meals once a week. I know Food Not Bombs was doing this in Florida and had trouble with the police. It was a real all-American conflaton - hungry people lining up for free food, even if it came from dumpsters, police cars rolling up with night sticks and guns to stop this, anal-retentive upper middle class white liberals pontificating about the feeding, the discarded food from the upscale restaurants going to waste amidst the police breaking up the food lines. As American as apple pie.
- cortesoft 5y ago
  Are there really no health risks from eating food that has been in a dumpster?
  - hutzlibu 5y ago
    There are, if eaten raw, but if cooked, usually not so much, if there was not literal poison in the trash as well. In either case, when you are hungry, bad food is still better than no food. (unless it is so bad, that that you puke from it, but poor people usually have a strong stomach. They have to have)
    - DarylZero 5y ago
      Poor people in America can get SNAP.
      - kingcharles 5y ago
        I'm a poor person in America and I cannot get SNAP as I am only a legal resident alien.
        DarylZero 5y ago
        That's super fucked up. There is still a remote chance you qualify FYI: https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/eligibility/citizen/non-citizen-policy https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/eligibility/citizen/non-citize...
        kingcharles 5y ago
        Thanks for that link, that was an interesting read, but sadly I don't think I qualify for any of those exemptions. It's more messed-up because I'm currently on house arrest and so I can't even go to a food bank to get food. I have to rely on the kindness of strangers who pass through the building I live at - occasionally one of them will drop off some food randomly. I'm pretty much down to some packets of stuffing and cans of sliced potatoes right now, but I don't mind. Before I started my last business I was down to zero and was finding canned food in Dumpsters, which while it isn't great, will mean you don't die!
        forgotmypw17 5y ago
        Are you allowed to receive delivered packages?
      - forgotmypw17 5y ago
        Snap is an illusion. The reality of it is that you may get it for a year max, and that is not most people. The best case scenario process is demeaning, from the application to the limited acceptance to the hoops you have to jump through at the store.
        DarylZero 5y ago
        >The reality of it is that you may get it for a year max SNAP doesn't have time limits like that. I think you're thinking of TANF which does have time limits. > process is demeaning Absolutely. Still, over 10% of people in USA receive SNAP (including myself) and it's why poor people don't literally starve here anymore.
  - forgotmypw17 5y ago
    I only eat food of acceptable quality. I actually have not eaten from a dumpster in months. But most dumpster food is quite safe, because it is still in packaging, or it is of the non-risky variety.
  - pcthrowaway 5y ago
    When I was volunteering with Food Not Bombs, we actually didn't dumpster much, there were an abundance of stores and suppliers willing to just give us what they were going to throw out if we could organize a collection time. We did occasionally dumpster also though, but Food Not Bombs groups have a loose guideline of serving vegan food, which is much less likely to go bad after a few hours of not being refrigerated (though the veganism is part of the ethics also)
forgotmypw17 5y ago
I made a decision a few years ago to not go out of my way for food, except for social reasons, and I generally follow this most of the time. I basically wait for food to "manifest" for me to eat, and do not eat until it happens. To "fuel" this manifesting, I practice karma yoga. I developed this practice based on reading various teachings, finding parallels between them, and then poking about and experimenting until I found what works. Sort of like how I learned computers...
- alecst 5y ago
  Fascinating. I'd love to hear some recent examples about how you manifested food.
  - forgotmypw17 5y ago
    Today, I really wanted a banana or two. I was craving it. I love bananas. I was craving them so hard that I was considering using the coins I've been saving as a gift for someone for the purpose of buying bananas from a store. I prayed. I typically pray in 3 parts: gratitude-forgiveness-requests, and this time was no exception. It went something like this: Thank you for [... some gratitudes ...]. Please forgive me for [... some regrettable things I've done ...]. Please help me find a banana or two to eat. Before I pray, I typically focus on my breathing, in traditional "breath meditation" fashion. This was the beginning and the foundation of all these practices, and I started practicing breath meditation several years ago. After prayer, I listened carefully, and I followed what one may describe as physical intuition to a place where someone had left behind the bottom of a banana nut muffin. Not quite a banana, but it did the trick. Physical intuition is subtle, it is like when you go for a walk without a purpose, going whichever way feels most natural. In this case, of course, I went out of my way for food, but I also went for a walk, I meditated along the way, etc. I'm not an absolutist by any means.
    - nicbou 5y ago
      I'm glad you joined this community. I'd never expect to read such a comment here. How did you get into this lifestyle?

Some bagel shops, restaurants etc. throw out excess food at the end if the day. Supermarkets might throw out bread etc. one day past sell-by date (I forget the supermarket details). It's a social thing really. Food Not Bombs would gather food from dumpsters (more excess food than half-eaten rolls), then eat communal meals in parks along with any hungry or homeless people. Fancy restaurants throw away unused food, people are hungry and don't have much money for food, FNB puts it together for free meals once a week. I know Food Not Bombs was doing this in Florida and had trouble with the police. It was a real all-American conflaton - hungry people lining up for free food, even if it came from dumpsters, police cars rolling up with night sticks and guns to stop this, anal-retentive upper middle class white liberals pontificating about the feeding, the discarded food from the upscale restaurants going to waste amidst the police breaking up the food lines. As American as apple pie.

cortesoft 5y ago
Are there really no health risks from eating food that has been in a dumpster?
- hutzlibu 5y ago
  There are, if eaten raw, but if cooked, usually not so much, if there was not literal poison in the trash as well. In either case, when you are hungry, bad food is still better than no food. (unless it is so bad, that that you puke from it, but poor people usually have a strong stomach. They have to have)
  - DarylZero 5y ago
    Poor people in America can get SNAP.
    - kingcharles 5y ago
      I'm a poor person in America and I cannot get SNAP as I am only a legal resident alien.
      - DarylZero 5y ago
        That's super fucked up. There is still a remote chance you qualify FYI: https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/eligibility/citizen/non-citizen-policy https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/eligibility/citizen/non-citize...
        kingcharles 5y ago
        Thanks for that link, that was an interesting read, but sadly I don't think I qualify for any of those exemptions. It's more messed-up because I'm currently on house arrest and so I can't even go to a food bank to get food. I have to rely on the kindness of strangers who pass through the building I live at - occasionally one of them will drop off some food randomly. I'm pretty much down to some packets of stuffing and cans of sliced potatoes right now, but I don't mind. Before I started my last business I was down to zero and was finding canned food in Dumpsters, which while it isn't great, will mean you don't die!
        forgotmypw17 5y ago
        Are you allowed to receive delivered packages?
    - forgotmypw17 5y ago
      Snap is an illusion. The reality of it is that you may get it for a year max, and that is not most people. The best case scenario process is demeaning, from the application to the limited acceptance to the hoops you have to jump through at the store.
      - DarylZero 5y ago
        >The reality of it is that you may get it for a year max SNAP doesn't have time limits like that. I think you're thinking of TANF which does have time limits. > process is demeaning Absolutely. Still, over 10% of people in USA receive SNAP (including myself) and it's why poor people don't literally starve here anymore.
- forgotmypw17 5y ago
  I only eat food of acceptable quality. I actually have not eaten from a dumpster in months. But most dumpster food is quite safe, because it is still in packaging, or it is of the non-risky variety.
- pcthrowaway 5y ago
  When I was volunteering with Food Not Bombs, we actually didn't dumpster much, there were an abundance of stores and suppliers willing to just give us what they were going to throw out if we could organize a collection time. We did occasionally dumpster also though, but Food Not Bombs groups have a loose guideline of serving vegan food, which is much less likely to go bad after a few hours of not being refrigerated (though the veganism is part of the ethics also)

forgotmypw17 5y ago

I made a decision a few years ago to not go out of my way for food, except for social reasons, and I generally follow this most of the time. I basically wait for food to "manifest" for me to eat, and do not eat until it happens. To "fuel" this manifesting, I practice karma yoga. I developed this practice based on reading various teachings, finding parallels between them, and then poking about and experimenting until I found what works. Sort of like how I learned computers...

alecst 5y ago
Fascinating. I'd love to hear some recent examples about how you manifested food.
- forgotmypw17 5y ago
  Today, I really wanted a banana or two. I was craving it. I love bananas. I was craving them so hard that I was considering using the coins I've been saving as a gift for someone for the purpose of buying bananas from a store. I prayed. I typically pray in 3 parts: gratitude-forgiveness-requests, and this time was no exception. It went something like this: Thank you for [... some gratitudes ...]. Please forgive me for [... some regrettable things I've done ...]. Please help me find a banana or two to eat. Before I pray, I typically focus on my breathing, in traditional "breath meditation" fashion. This was the beginning and the foundation of all these practices, and I started practicing breath meditation several years ago. After prayer, I listened carefully, and I followed what one may describe as physical intuition to a place where someone had left behind the bottom of a banana nut muffin. Not quite a banana, but it did the trick. Physical intuition is subtle, it is like when you go for a walk without a purpose, going whichever way feels most natural. In this case, of course, I went out of my way for food, but I also went for a walk, I meditated along the way, etc. I'm not an absolutist by any means.
  - nicbou 5y ago
    I'm glad you joined this community. I'd never expect to read such a comment here. How did you get into this lifestyle?