I was walking around Jean-Talon’s market as it was closing, and saw down the alley these youths and that woman dumpster-diving. The young man who looks at me in the photography said to his bro’, “Hey! Hurry up! People are starting to take pictures of us” and click! That was it. I thanked him for the photograph ( I knew it was good).

I used to go to Jean-Talon’s market at the end of the afternoon to recuperate some food. Back then, I lived at the “Ayllu-centrale” on Sherbrooke East in Montréal. We had an eco-anarchist-urban community in the city (a network of apartments). I remembered being shy when I first dumpster-dived, but when I understood all the treasures I was finding and the money I was saving I got fully into it.

I used to dumpster-dive as well in Montevideo (Uruguay). Right after the Sunday ferias on Tristan Narvaja or in La Comercial, right in front of my apartment. I would share the food I found with my neighbors and cook right away some spaghetti sauce.

To be a good dumpster-diver, you have to keep smiling, sometimes swear at capitalists, be willing to share, and you have to hurry up to clean-up the food and cook it.

See more on my Flickr @resurgentanthropologist

– TRA