Cos it makes things sound nice...
There are a few ways which I can obtain food.
1. I go to a discard pile in the fresh food market which opens 3 times a week.
They just leave their cartons of stuff they don't want on the floor for the cleaner to pick up when he arrives. The food which I take home look like this.
Alternatively, I find these in the bin... In a similar condition. Cos instead of putting the cartons on the floor, the vendor may put the carton in the bin. So I take the carton out of the bin and help myself.
Of course there are things in good and bad conditions, and obviously I take the ones suitable for consumption.
Since some of the vendors know me, they sometimes pass me stuff directly if they see me walking by. So for example, there was one time, I walk past when one vendor was about to dispose a plastic bag of bananas. So instead of putting it in the bin, he just passed me the whole bag of bananas.
2. Similarly for the supermarket, I go to the bin behind the supermarket. Open it and help myself. The staff recognizes me, and the other folks who go and help themselves, cos I'm not the only one.
It's a false perspective that all bins are dirty. Supermarkets have pretty clean bins. They mainly throw away wrapped up products, or they throw away cartons or plastic wrapping when they unwrap cartons to put individual products on display.
It's not like some hawker center where people throw food scraps inside.
Here is a sample of what I find.
And well... one thing to note, this is more achievable in France cos the weather is cooler. So the meat doesn't spoil as quickly.
It's not always perfect. I have found a bad chicken before. It smelt bad so I didn't eat it. It the same as other things that smell bad in your fridge. If it smells bad, just don't eat it.
For things that don't smell bad, I make sure to cook it properly before consumption.
Also, sometimes the staff will just pass me the stuff that he's planning to discard. For example... 20 unsold baguettes from yesterday. True story.
When we are young, do we know how to cross the road safely? NO! If our parents didn't teach us, we would probably be dead. Run over by a car, if not for our parents.
The thing is... no one taught us how to obtain discarded excess food.
How many of us learn food safety from our parents? How many of us learn food preparation from our parents? How many know how to can, salt, dry, preserve food?
How many of us have learnt that curry cannot keep in room temperature cos the curry will spoil?
I have kept curry at room temperature overnight without any issue.
Simply cos... I have the knowledge and experience to do it.
Our perception of danger and risks is influenced by our own knowledge and experience.
No one would take a parachute and jump off the plane without any knowledge or training right? Same as for diving in the sea.
The thing is... most of the time, people perceive something to be more dangerous than it really is due to the lack of knowledge and experience. AND... that's true. It IS dangerous to do many things without knowledge and experience.
It is potentially risky to eat food from the bin if you don't know what you're doing. Same as it's dangerous to drive without any training.
And some people will learn how to do it, by reading, taking courses, asking people who have done it, etc...
And some people will have no interest... cos... they just don't want to or don't feel the need to.
Which is fine.
Which is highly related to my article yesterday.
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