One supermarket’s trash is another man’s high-class dinner. Isn’t that how the saying goes? If you think dumpster diving is a sport reserved only for the most desperate and/or broke of college students, think again. Comedian and documentarian Jeff Seal breaks down that presupposition in a hilarious new video for Gothamist.
The video is peppered with eye-opening facts on food waste in the U.S. Like this one, for example: U.S. supermarkets threw out 43 billion pounds of food in 2010. And this one: 40 percent of food available for consumption in the U.S. is thrown away every year. Damn.
Seal makes a good argument for dumpster diving, not just with facts, but with the actual food he discovers — everything from unexpired Noosa yogurt to sushi to chocolate croissants.
“I can’t stress enough,” he says, speaking of his surprisingly rich garbage harvest, “the ones who scoff and mock you now will be the first to go. They will squeal like little piggies when we line them up. Until then, we eat Sabra out of the garbage.”
Check out the Seal’s exposé. It’ll definitely give you pause next time you’re running low on grocery money for the month and feel like eating something classier than ramen.
