Talking Dutch: No such thing as a free fridge
A Gentenaar found his generosity tested when thieves took a fancy to his free-food fridge
Derek Blyth on redistribution of food
His generous initiative made the pages of Het Nieuwsblad. In de Albertlaan in Gent staat sinds enkele dagen een koelkast gevuld met restjes uit de keuken van Stef Mintjen, zoals soep en cake – For the past few days, a fridge has stood on Albertlaan in Ghent filled with the leftovers from Stef Mintjen’s kitchen, such as soup and cake.
“Freego”, it said on the fridge – a play on the English word “free” and the Dutch frigo – a fridge. “Free food to share,” it said on the side, in English.
It seemed like a brilliant idea to give away good food rather than throw it in the bin. Er wordt veel te veel voeding weggegooid – Far too much food is thrown away, Mintjen told VRT news.
It’s also exactly what the government has been telling us to do. Many people are struggling to feed themselves properly while huge amounts of food are thrown away every day. Wij vinden dat idereen recht heeft op verse en gezonde voeding – We think that everyone has the right to fresh and healthy food, added Mintjen (pictured).
He was filmed placing neatly labelled containers of soup in the fridge. Within an hour, all the food had disappeared.
“I could use a refrigerator”
But some people got the wrong idea. Maar blijkbaar heeft niet idereen begrepen dat de inhoud van de koelkast gratis is, niet de koelkast zelf – Obviously not everyone had understood that the contents of the fridge were free, not the fridge itself.
Two men were caught on video carrying the fridge to their car. Gelukkig konden de journalisten de dieven onderscheppen en werden ze wel verplicht om de koelkast terug te plaatsen – Fortunately the journalists were able to intercept the thieves, and they were forced to put the fridge back.
Wat bent u aan het doen? – What are you doing? asked one journalist. Daar stond op: ‘om mee te nemen’ – The sign said: “to take away”. Zo’n frigo kan ik wel gebruiken – I could use a refrigerator.
Je zie dat de kennis van Engels bij iedereen niet zo groot is – You can see that not everyone speaks English all that well, Mintjen said with a smile.
It seems that, in Ghent at least, there is after all such a thing as a free lunch. But there is definitely no such thing as a free fridge.
Photo courtesy De Standaard
