Elora Adamson and her friend Riley Yakabuski feel they ate pretty well during their brief stint dumpster diving.
“One night we got together with some friends and we made vegan quiche, tofu, and we made a crust out of potato peels that we baked,” Adamson said. “Then we made cauliflower wings – so we coated cauliflower and cooked it until it was crispy – and then we had bread with baba ganoush and avocado and pickled radishes.”
The worst experience Adamson remembers was trying to make corn tortillas. Although technically the only two ingredients are water and corn flower, they had problems getting the consistency right. However, they blame their tortilla-making inexperience rather than the ingredients.
READ MORE: UVic dumpster divers raise awareness for food waste
The two sourced all their meals from food waste bins from Jan. 8 to 18. They did so to raise awareness about food waste and to raise money to help combat food insecurity in northern communities. They set out to raise $1,000, but in the end got over $2,100 with donations trickling in.
“It was really amazing to see how the campaign blew up more than we were expecting,” UVic student Elora Adamson said. “We got so much support and positive feedback from people in the community and the school. Everyone pulled together getting us over double the goal we originally aimed to raise.”
Adamson said once they donate the money saved on groceries the total will surpass $2,200.
Although awareness is harder to measure, Adamson hopes to repeat the 10-day challenge next year.
“We had a lot of interest in people joining us and pledging to do it themselves,” she said. “We’re hoping it can be something we do every year, and have even more people doing it and have a bigger impact.”
Once the dumpster diet was up, the pair went for burritos. Since then Adamson said she’s happy to have peanut butter back.
“The first thing I had was cereal with banana and peanut butter. I was missing cereal a lot, and peanut butter,” Adamson said. “I never find peanut butter in the dumpster.”
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