Dumpster Diving Restaurant Reaches Fundraising Goal

An entirely free "underground" restaurant and grocery store called The Gleaners' Kitchen is planning to open in Somerville. The project has reached its Kickstarter fundraising goal and now intends to create "a twenty-four hour cafe, decorated with dumpstered flowers and cheap art, where people hungry for a different world can come and exchange ideas." All food will be free, and procured by dumpster diving. The story of free restaurant has captured the attention of various local media publications, including Grub Street, Boston.com, WGBH and Boston Magazine, as well as Time. Tufts senior Maximus Thaler appears to be the driving force behind The Gleaners' Kitchen. In fundraising videos, he acknowledges a "disdain for money" and describes the amount of food available from digging through the trash as "preposterous."

The Gleaners' Kitchen hopes to be operating by this coming summer but has yet to share a start date or location: Thaler says that a restaurant space is "one thing we haven't yet figured out how to dumpster." Hence the fundraising despite the disdain for money. Stay tuned for further details and hit up the tipline with any of your own.

Update: Eater reached out to Thaler, but he's currently unavailable as he is engaged in a silent meditation practice.

· A Free Restaurant Closes in on Summertime Somerville Opening [GS via BRT]
· Tufts 'Dumpster Diver' Looks to Open Cafe [Boston.com]
· The Downsized Life [WGBH]
· Tufts Student Wants to Open a Cafe That Serves Food From a Dumpster [BM]
[Photo: Official Site]