College Student Runs Dumpster Diving Cafe with ‘Recycled’ Food

Tufts University student Maximus Thaler has taken frugality to a whole new level by opening up a “freegan” cafe in his apartment that operates on donations and exchanged services rather than price tags. The twist? All food served in the cafe is pulled directly from the trash.

Thaler and other members of The Gleaner’s Kitchen (a Tufts cooperative living house) make nighttime trips to garbage cans and dumpsters throughout the Boston area in search of discarded (but still edible) food to serve in their home-based cafe. Thaler acknowledges that the entire enterprise exists “in a grey area of legality” but insists that he is providing a necessary service to his community, “I eat better out of a dumpster than […] most Tufts students will ever be able to afford.”

We’ll be honest: If you can get past the ick factor of dumpster diving, that’s a lot of good-looking free food. And we are all about free food. Props to Thaler for replacing the typical college student cheap dinner of ramen noodles with something environmentally sustainable and delicious. Oh, yum!

H/T Boston.com + PicThx Kickstarter