What is a Freegan? The proud social parasite

"When we understood nothing, we ate everything - fried chicken and fries from fast-food chains, bread and rice balls from the supermarket.

Later, once we learned about conventional farming, genetically modified crops and food additives,

we no longer wanted to eat those foods, and began to pursue natural, real food.

Once we saw how animals under intensive livestock farming are bred, fattened, transported and then slaughtered,

we no longer wanted to eat animals raised on those farms, and became what people call Vegetarian.

Once we knew the fate decided at birth for male layer chicks that will never lay eggs and male dairy calves that will never produce milk,

we no longer wanted to eat eggs or drink milk, and became what people see as Vegan.

Finally, when we at last opened the dumpsters behind the supermarkets, we discovered that all those things we had once refused to eat, could not bear to eat... were piled up inside. We dug them out, took them home to cook, and ate them with tears in our eyes, becoming what we call Freegans."

Freegan: So what if people call us parasites

We do not discuss whether it is legal; we only care whether it is right

Some people will say that these dumpster divers, hitchhikers, squatters, these Freegans - eating food from dumpsters, hitchhiking, occupying empty houses - are depending on the surplus of capitalist society yet not working to earn money to contribute to the society that feeds them, and are simply social parasites.

But they do not know that
of course we wish we could eat healthy vegetables and fruits grown by ourselves using natural farming methods….

Of course we wish we could drive cars fueled by waste oil, solar power or biogas,
and of course we wish we could build with our own hands, using earth, bamboo and wood, a natural building suited to the local climate,

These are all dreams that live in every Freegan's heart. But we choose to postpone these dreams…….

Because when we discover that the world produces enough food each year to feed ten billion people, yet nearly half of that food is wasted, while one billion people are going hungry,

when we discover that in Taiwan, China, each car carries on average only 1.7 people, meaning more than two seats per car sit idle just like that,

when we discover that in the UK there are fifty thousand homeless people, yet nearly a million empty houses with no one living in them at all,

should we really leave these resources to be wasted just like that, and then spend even more resources developing other alternatives?
Therefore,

we would rather eat expired, pesticide-sprayed, herbicide-treated, genetically modified food from dumpsters,
rather spend four or five hours by the roadside waiting for strangers to give us a ride,

rather risk conflict with police and landowners to live in ruins with terrible conditions,

rather…….. under all kinds of public pressure, hold our heads high and be the parasites of this society.