Brooklyn Confirms Brooklyn-ness By Holding Dinner Parties in Dumpsters

Dumpster diving found itself well and truly Brooklynised over the weekend, when 20 diners feasted on day-old bread, bruised apricots and super ripe bananas in a old Williamsburg dumpster. Brooklyn-based initiative Salvage Supperclub served up course after course of revisualised foods deemed unworthy for selling — wilting vegetables, semi-stale loaves and old cookies.

Held once a month to make a big public statement about sustainability and how much food we throw away for aesthetic reasons, Salvage Supperclub was developed by Josh Treuhaft, an MFA in Design for Social Innovation at New York's School of Visual Arts. Linked to his own graduate thesis, 'Eat Everything', and raising funds for a non-profit, Treuhaft teamed up with chef Celia Lam (Manhattan's Natural Gourmet Institute) to create the entirely vegetarian menu. The pair dropped by Migliorelli Farm, Bushwick Food Coop and Natural Gourmet Institute to collect ingredients — the chipped, bruised and totally edible vegie heroes who would have found themselves in a dumpster anyway.

With only 20 spots at the table, the Salvage dining experience was one of NYC's one-to-brag-about tickets this weekend. All proceeds from the $50-a-plate dinner were donated to the US non-profit organisation Culinary Corps. With diners happily seated at a long bench snuggled inside the dumpster, chef Lam served up a dazzling six-course tasting menu on old subway tiles — we're talking rescued root vegetable fettuccine, super ripe banana custard with captured cookie crust — alongside a cheeky illegal champagne cocktail hour. Lam took time to explain to guests the rewards from working with 'spoiled' foods — bruised fruits are better for pureeing, for example.

While the stunt might cause many an "Oh, Williamsburg," head shake, Salvage has harnessed that pressing sustainability conundrum for well-off, aesthetically obsessed countries. Just because it's ugly, doesn't mean it's inedible.