French Activist Pedaled Across Atlantic Eating Expired Food

French activist Baptiste Dubanchet, 29, pedaled and sailed across the Atlantic, risking his life to raise awareness about unnecessary food waste. Traveling from Paris to Morocco, to Miami and then New York, he ate only out of date, expired food to fuel his body and the ten month journey by bike and by boat. He purposely chose food that otherwise would've been thrown away: 50-year-old honey, decade-old lentils, and rice from 2011.

It was a dangerous journey across the ocean.

Facing storms and dangerous close contact with whales, Dubanchet traveled on average 40 nautical miles a day on the ocean, and 40 to 75 miles a day when on land.

"A giant whale came right up to the boat. She was two times bigger than the boat so she could of flipped it or broken it with her tail. It was so scary," said Dubanchet. "I could not do anything to help it, I froze, I couldn't move. The storms were scary as well but as they come slowly - you have the time to realize what's happening"

But he did fall in love with the night sky: "But the stars at night were amazing. There were millions and millions, like sparkling dust all over the sky."

Promoting ways to end food waste

Dubanchet wanted to prove that it's safe to eat dry product food past the expiration date:

This project was a way to find and promote ways to end food waste for good. Fresh food should be freeze-dried instead of thrown away. And dry products should no longer be thrown away if we remove the best before dates, people will keep them until they are eaten.

No one on Twitter seems impressed.

One person thinks Dubanchet was just trying to get attention from the press.

"He should have picked foods that DO go off, everyone knows honey has no shelf life for example anyway he got in the papers so result!"

And Larry here doesn't think that Dubanchet isn't making a bit of different - he just wants to think he is.

"From the annals of 'I gotta do something to pretend I'm making a difference, anything really.'"

Do you think he's proved anything?

Even his food choices inspired bawdry bowel commentary.

"Or maybe he was banned to the oceans because of chronic explosive diarrhea due to eating out of date foods?"

"Good thing there was nobody with him. His ongoing vomitting, farting and diarrhea must have been unbearable for somebody else."

A petition to change food labeling.

In April 2014, Dubanchet crossed seven European countries, from Paris to Warsaw, eating only food from the dumpsters.

Dubanchet has a petition on Change.org to prevent food waste by removing "Best Before" dates.

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h/t: Daily Male UK