Freeganism

I first became aware of 'Freegansim' from watching a really awfull dating program where one of the applicants lived a Fregan lifestyle. I became interested in the principals of this way of life, because in the last few years I've become really aware, and frustrated by the amount of food that is wasted in industry. After working in various cafes and supermarkets, I became aware of how much food has to be thrown of as a result of govenment ruling.

Freeganism is essentially an anti-consumerist lifestyle whereby people employ alternative living strategies based on "limited participation in the conventional economy and minimal consumption of resources".

Freegans "embrace community, generosity, social concern, freedom, cooperation, and sharing in opposition to a society based on materialism, moral apathy, competition, conformity, and greed." The lifestyle involves salvaging discarded, unspoiled food from supermarket dumpsters, known as 'dumpster diving'. Freegans salvage the food for political reasons, rather than out of need.

The word "freegan" is a portmanteau of "free" and "vegan".Freeganism started in the mid 1960s, out of the antiglobalization and environmentalist movements. The movement also has elements of Diggers, an anarchist street theater group based in Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco in the 1960s, that gave away rescued food.