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| Dirty blue dumpster (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Calling All Dumpster Divers
By Sarah Ostaszewski
Posted April 17, 2014
Where Have All The Divers Gone?
After learning about dumpster diving practices across the country, I wanted to connect with divers in my own town.My search began as conversations with students at Indiana University. I was referred to the Bloomington co-ops, where I might find a few residents who have some diving experience.
Kelly and Sandra did not know any divers personally, but Sandra admitted to occasional dumpster diving as well as frequent foraging.
Following their advice, I biked to the co-ops and found only two residents — neither had ever gone dumpster diving. One resident directed me towards another co-op, where I might find a dumpster diver or two (her co-op was “not that hardcore”). Unfortunately, no one from that co-op was home.
Disappointment growing, I approached the fourth and final co-op, catching a resident just as she was exiting the house. After explaining my intentions, she replied that yes, in fact, she did know someone. This someone, named Tim, was unfortunately not home at the moment, but I was welcome to email him. I did email later, but he did not reply.
I next brought up dumpsters with a friend, Neil, whose house neighbors one of the co-ops. After hearing inquiries about the elusive dumpster divers, he confessed to never seeing one but promised to keep an eye out.
Rachel, a student from Indiana University’s anthropology department, knew not one but two dumpster divers, Matt and Abby. Rachel had once eaten a dessert baked by these friends containing pineapple from a dumpster, but admitted nervousness has kept her out of dumpsters herself.
Two weeks after my initial questions about her dumpster diver friends, however, still no contact. Rachel had breached the topic with Matt, but she learned that he only went dumpster diving with an outsider man, upon whose name or identity was never elaborated.
Emily, a fine arts student, likewise had known dumpster divers, but they had all moved out of town within the past year.
There seemed to be a pattern emerging. Dumpster divers are indeed a secretive bunch.
Nearly every individual I had spoken with seemed to know of someone who actually dumpster dived, but not one individual could initiate direct contact with a dumpster diver. Moreover, no one I spoke to had actually gone dumpster diving themselves, save for one graduate student.
Where, exactly, was this food subculture and who was truly involved?
