A punch in the stomach the report of sheet this Sunday (28) under the title “This is how I eat: the routine of São Paulo residents who depend on donations, xepa and garbage to satisfy their hunger”. The reporters Mariana Agunzi and Karime Xavier spoke with the people we see every day on the street, but they don’t know their stories.
Tiago Bastos de Santana, 24, says he’s used to eating garbage, so he doesn’t feel bad with spoiled food.
Maria Lúcia Monteiro, 59, removes the moldy parts of the bologna she finds in the garbage. She cooks, in the rubble wood, the fats that the butcher’s donate to her.
You don’t have to go to Jardim Papai Noel, where Maria Lúcia lives, to come across people in this undignified situation.
I live on a street full of residential buildings in Perdizes. In the late afternoon, the doormen and janitors deposit everything that the residents have thrown away in metal bins.
This garbage has always been rummaged through by people who roam the street. The profile of these people has changed a lot recently.
They used to be rubble scavengers who collect from cans and other junk to resell. Usually lonely people, with some mental disorder, problem with alcohol or drugs. They opened the bags and left a huge mess when leaving.
They are families now.
They are after food. They open the bag, search its contents, take out what they find, close the bag and leave everything as they found it.
The restaurant industry in the United States uses the expression “early bird” (“early bird” or, literally, “bird that arrives early”) to designate customers who go to dinner before everyone else – which, in the US, is not much after our lunch.
Early birds are usually elderly. Restaurants give them discounts to run the kitchen during off-peak hours. Here in Brazil, there are restaurants per kilo that charge less for those who go to lunch before noon.
On the streets of São Paulo, having an early dinner is a matter of survival.
Doormen take out the trash a little after 5pm. The collection only takes place at night, but families of the hungry know they can’t wait long.
I watch her pass from time to time, as it’s a time of day when I always happen to be standing on the sidewalk waiting for an Uber.
At around 5:15 pm, 5:30 pm, the first family arrives. Investigate all the dumps on the block and disappear with some food. The second group comes soon after and finds much less food.
The others can no longer find anything to eat.
In São Paulo’s garbage, only those who dine early dine. This is the horror on the doorstep of our homes.
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