# Can I buy dinner for a freegan? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 16, 2014, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-dinner-for-a-freegan/683849 "2014-03-16T18:14:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2014, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-dinner-for-a-freegan/683849/21 "2014-03-16T21:10:30Z")
> [@copperwindow](#): > > I haven’t checked my “hardware” in a while, but I’m pretty sure that I’m not a woman by either sex or gender. I’m intrigued by this guy, but not necessarily in a romantic way. Hardware and your intentions on this lad aside, the question still stands: why not simply ask him if it would be appropriate to buy him a meal? If he says yes, then go for it. If he says no, then…I dunno, bring him a home-cooked meal, invite him over for one, arrange to meet up at a tasty Dumpster to share found food. Or do something free that doesn’t involve a paid-for event or food. A fair, museum, hike, bike ride, state park, like that. ---
**Author:** ![copperwindow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@copperwindow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/copperwindow)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2014, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-dinner-for-a-freegan/683849/22 "2014-03-16T21:22:12Z")
> [@chiroptera](#): > > Hardware and your intentions on this lad aside, the question still stands: why not simply ask h. Im if it would be appropriate to buy him a meal? > If he says yes, then go for it. > If he says no, then…I dunno, bring him a home-cooked meal, invite him over for one, arrange to meet up at a tasty Dumpster to share found food. > > Or do something free that doesn’t involve a paid-for event or food. A fair, museum, hike, bike ride, state park, like that. Because it seems awkward. If he were an Orthodox Jew, I wouln’t ask him if he wanted to go to eat pork barbecue with me. If this is something that Freegans dt do, I don’t want to ask him. ---
**Author:** ![copperwindow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@copperwindow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/copperwindow)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2014, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-dinner-for-a-freegan/683849/23 "2014-03-16T21:23:53Z")
This also leads to another question: what do Freegans drink? ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2014, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-dinner-for-a-freegan/683849/24 "2014-03-16T21:26:07Z")
> [@copperwindow](#): > > Because it seems awkward. If he were an Orthodox Jew, I wouln’t ask him if he wanted to go to eat pork barbecue with me. If this is something that Freegans dt do, I don’t want to ask him. But if you didn’t know and you asked the Orthodox Jew, it wouldn’t be a big deal. I also can’t imagine that these folks have some standardized, universal code. Even vegetarians have variability and that’s a way more familiar life style. ---
**Author:** ![copperwindow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@copperwindow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/copperwindow)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2014, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-dinner-for-a-freegan/683849/25 "2014-03-16T21:31:40Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > But if you didn’t know and you asked the Orthodox Jew, it wouldn’t be a big deal. > > I also can’t imagine that these folks have some standardized, universal code. Even vegetarians have variability and that’s a way more familiar life style. You raise a valid point there. ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2014, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-dinner-for-a-freegan/683849/26 "2014-03-16T21:32:52Z")
> [@copperwindow](#): > > Because it seems awkward. If he were an Orthodox Jew, I wouln’t ask him if he wanted to go to eat pork barbecue with me. If this is something that Freegans dt do, I don’t want to ask him. That is why I suggested something spending-neutral to begin with. That way, win - no awkwardness. If he was an Orthodox Jew, I’m pretty sure he’d have no problem letting you know a pork BBQ wasn’t his thing; I don’t get why it would be an implied insult to ask. Do something neutral, ask questions, figure out what’s appropriate to do together going forward. Really, this is no different than any other developing relationship. You talk to each other and you learn about each other’s preferences and so on. Is that a difficult thing for you? ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2014, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-dinner-for-a-freegan/683849/27 "2014-03-16T21:35:27Z")
That’s the confusing bit- you find the guy genuinely interesting and are open to his lifestyle, but are reluctant to talk about his interests and lifestyle? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2014, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-dinner-for-a-freegan/683849/28 "2014-03-16T21:36:19Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > I know a few people who tend towards the freegan What’s that? A cheapan? ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2014, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-dinner-for-a-freegan/683849/29 "2014-03-16T21:52:40Z")
Why would you deliberately want to feed a parasite? ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2014, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-dinner-for-a-freegan/683849/30 "2014-03-16T21:57:27Z")
In case anyone is still unsure what a freegan is… > **[Freeganism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeganism)** > > Freeganism is an ideology of limited participation in the conventional economy and minimal consumption of resources, particularly through recovering wasted goods like food. The word "freegan" is a portmanteau of "free" and "vegan". While vegans avoid buying, consuming, using, and wearing animal products as an act of protest against animal exploitation, freegans—at least in theory—avoid buying anything as an act of protest against the food system in general. > Freeganism is often presented as syn... ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2014, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-dinner-for-a-freegan/683849/31 "2014-03-16T21:57:44Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Why would you deliberately want to feed a parasite? How is he a parasite if he’s living off stuff that’s been purposefully discarded? Makes him more of a commensal, than a parasite. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2014, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-dinner-for-a-freegan/683849/32 "2014-03-16T22:56:29Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > How is he a parasite if he’s living off stuff that’s been purposefully discarded? > > Makes him more of a commensal, than a parasite. He’s living off the discards of a socioeconomic body. I suppose you could make the case that it’s a costless free ride, but the situation is too much like many “alternative” practices, where it’s not so much costless as it is that no one’s keeping score. That is, the cost is there, it’s just not from his pocket to those providing the discards. It’s sustainable only as long as there is adequate waste, which has its cost in the aggregate. If an individual chooses to support themself this way, fine; I could care less. It’s when it’s elevated to a movement and a lifestyle that I start to smell BS and mutual delusion. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2014, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-dinner-for-a-freegan/683849/33 "2014-03-16T23:06:48Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > He’s living off the discards of a socioeconomic body. I suppose you could make the case that it’s a costless free ride, but the situation is too much like many “alternative” practices, where it’s not so much costless as it is that no one’s keeping score. That is, the cost is there, it’s just not from his pocket to those providing the discards. > > It’s sustainable only as long as there is adequate waste, which has its cost in the aggregate. If an individual chooses to support themself this way, fine; I could care less. It’s when it’s elevated to a movement and a lifestyle that I start to smell BS and mutual delusion. Ehh maybe… I get the impression via the wiki that Freegans are kinda-sorta self supporting homeless or squatters. I don’t get the impression they are trying to scam anybody or steal anything re it being “BS”. There is a criminal amount of food and resource waste in modern society. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2014, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-dinner-for-a-freegan/683849/34 "2014-03-16T23:18:52Z")
Does he like pre-owned sushi? ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2014, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-dinner-for-a-freegan/683849/35 "2014-03-16T23:18:54Z")
> [@copperwindow](#): > > This also leads to another question: what do Freegans drink? If it’s yellow, let it mellow. If it’s brown, chug it down! ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2014, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-dinner-for-a-freegan/683849/36 "2014-03-17T00:19:07Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Ehh maybe… I get the impression via the wiki that Freegans are kinda-sorta self supporting homeless or squatters. I don’t get the impression they are trying to scam anybody or steal anything re it being “BS”. There is a criminal amount of food and resource waste in modern society. I wouldn’t disagree in the least with your last sentence. I am perhaps being a little too harsh, but a lot of my recent work has crossed paths with various “save the world” and “I’m more ethical that youse” movements that are based on such parasitical or unscalable concepts. Many completely fail to see that their Brave New World can’t exist without that host body to feed on, and that if more than a microscopic number of person followed their ideas, it would fail for all of them So, a homeless or economic bottom scraper who has learned to find perfectly edible food and other goods via discerning dumpster-diving? Good, and upsetting that anyone has to live that way. A movement with a name and rules and mass communication to the same end? Please. See above. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2014, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-dinner-for-a-freegan/683849/37 "2014-03-17T00:20:59Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Ehh maybe… I get the impression via the wiki that Freegans are kinda-sorta self supporting homeless or squatters. I don’t get the impression they are trying to scam anybody or steal anything re it being “BS”. There is a criminal amount of food and resource waste in modern society. [Essay by Warren Oakes](http://freegan.info/what-is-a-freegan/freegan-philosophy/why-freegan-an-attack-on-consumption-in-defense-of-donuts/) (founder of Freeganism) advocates shoplifting and employee theft as part of the philosophy. > [@](#): > > **Scams/Shoplifting** – There are a slew of shady ways to score free food…always let your conscience be your guide! > > **Shoplifting** - There is some debate over how freegan this really is because you are still creating an empty shelf that must be restocked, but it is more freegan than forking over big bucks. > > **Employee Theft** - Some folks believe this to be more ethical than shoplifting because it is a trade-off: they steal your time and energy and you steal their food. > > \*\*Returns \*\*- Example: we just dove a bunch of jars of mayonnaise. We don’t want to eat it, so we return it to the store, say we bought it and couldn’t use it/don’t want it and trade it in for cash or good food or store credit. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2014, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-dinner-for-a-freegan/683849/38 "2014-03-17T00:21:23Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > What’s that? A cheapan? In one case just an outright liar, but that’s kind of beside the point. I have a lot of hippy friends, quite a few of whom do some ‘Freegan’ activity- dumpster diving, foraging, growing vegetables, gleaning… Hey, I’ve done some myself. Some of my friends have spent long periods living exclusively from stuff like that, or pretty much, though I don’t know anyone who ‘lives it’ full time. Like someone else mentioned, once it gets to a full on ideology, it’s clearly unsustainable, and can get a bit silly (and the ‘Freegans’ who think it’s OK to steal from farms, shops or people’s gardens seriously piss me off), but I’m quite amused at the outright hostility from some in this thread to the idea. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2014, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-dinner-for-a-freegan/683849/39 "2014-03-17T00:26:46Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > [Essay by Warren Oakes](http://freegan.info/what-is-a-freegan/freegan-philosophy/why-freegan-an-attack-on-consumption-in-defense-of-donuts/) (founder of Freeganism) advocates shoplifting and employee theft as part of the philosophy. And there you go. Hey, I read\* Steal This Book \*back in the day, too. ---
**Author:** ![PaulParkhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@PaulParkhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulParkhead)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2014, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-dinner-for-a-freegan/683849/40 "2014-03-17T00:27:41Z")
So society will not function if perfectly edible food is not landfilled? I mean, I think I see what you’re getting at: most of the food wouldn’t exist at all if someone else weren’t paying for it. But by throwing it away, haven’t they indicated that they no longer want it? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-dinner-for-a-freegan/683849.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-dinner-for-a-freegan/683849.md?page=3)