This paper aims to reflect on the relevance of the ethnographic method to the seizure of social policies in the field of Food and Nutrition. It is based on data from a survey conducted in a community kitchen from a sorting and waste composting unit (UTC) - popularly known as "dump" - in a neighborhood on the outskirts of Porto Alegre-RS, Brazil. It is argued that the merit of this research is its traditional method, ethnography, which involves a set of concepts and procedures that will lead us to the point of view of the groups surveyed through an intensive work-site. Firstly we seek to bring some definitions and characterizations of social policies that address Food and Nutrition Security (FNS) as well as the ethnographic context; then, based on some ethnographic notes, we will try to elucidate, although initially, possible appropriations that actors do on the community kitchen and on other programs there. Without pretending to wind up the debate, at the end the discussion is in favor of the relevance of the method for a deep understanding of the directions given to social programs and to the questioning of the different logics that inhabit the context studied, allowing critically rethink the government's actions concerning FNS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]