Food for thought

On my way to the Hable sample sale the other day (will show my loot on a separate post), I passed the Whole Foods on East Houson St. I noticed some people rifling through the trash. I looked closer and saw a body shuffling, halfway in a trash bin that was laying on the street. Ten minutes later, two guys walked by with super heavy bags. One guy had three brown paper bags full of food, and the other had four plastic bags filled with apples and strawberries. Gosh, the amount of food that is thrown out in NYC! I wish we had a compost program like SF. Well, further down the street, while standing in front of Hable's building, I smelled garlic. Right in front of me on the street was a dumpster full of garlic! The food distribution place next door was shut down for the day but had filled their trash to the brim with garlic. This brought to mind a show I saw on tv a while back about some New Yorkers who ride their bikes at night and go through fancy grocery stores' trash to pick up food that was about to expire and fruit and vegetables that were on the verge of going. They had some kind of club and would have a big meal at their headquarters every night. I thought that was amazing. I've also heard of a soup kitchen on the UWS that serves gourmet food to their homeless patrons. They receive day-old bread donations from a fancy bakery and other food donations from neighborhood farmers markets and supermarkets and the chef makes amazing meals. How great are programs like that?



Closer look at the source of the smell.



Some images from Whole Foods. This one is super huge and was not crowded at all when I went. The view is nice too.