BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Jose Perez and his wife Maria have 11 hungry mouths to feed. So they travel each week to Argentina's biggest vegetable market to raid the Dumpsters.
Rotten tomatoes, blackened potatoes, rubbery bell peppers — the throwaways from the central market are all the Perez family will eat today.
Hungrily oblivious to trucks rumbling into the market with loads of fresh oranges, melons and other produce, they fend off the flies and claw through the mushy debris for anything edible.
A four-year-old economic downturn has become the worst recession in Argentine history. The jobless rate has soared to 20 percent, the peso has devalued more than 70 percent against the dollar, and more than one-third of the 36 million people now live in poverty.
"My husband hasn't been able to work a decent job in years, and we still have to eat," said Maria, hefting a paring knife in calloused hands as she hacked out black spots in rotting potatoes.
Jose, a laid-off electrician, carried a plastic bucket of water to wash the vegetables that often give his family stomach aches.
Nearby, a grizzled man in an old army jacket already had a meager pot of potatoes and cabbage bubbling over a smoky fire. "Tell Mr. Bush we still want to pay back the debt, but give us more time," he said with a laugh.
He meant the $141 billion Argentina owes after January's default, when the crisis exploded.
Hunger is becoming evident in Argentina — from the overrun soup kitchens to the streets of the capital where armies of people sift the trash each night for anything to recycle, sell or eat.
On March 23 a truck carrying 22 cattle overturned near Rosario, 180 miles to the north.
As hungry shantytown dwellers gathered around the injured animals, men appeared with butcher's knives and carted away dripping sides of beef.
Sociologist Artemio Lopez, at the Equis consulting group, said the government's "basic food basket" of essential goods like bread, rice and eggs soared 47.4 percent in the first five months of the year.
"With each passing day, there is more hunger in Argentina," said Lopez, who estimates the proportion of the population that cannot afford the basics has nearly doubled to 21 percent in a year.
To properly feed a family of four cost 215 pesos in March and 252 pesos in April, government figures show. That's an increase from $61 to $72, and salaries haven't risen at all.
The cash-strapped government has social programs for the poor, but critics say these can't keep pace with the spreading crisis. On May 17 the government started dispensing aid worth $42 a month to 1 million unemployed heads of households. The critics say it should be double that amount.
Community and religious groups struggle to fill the gap.