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February 1, 2016
The Irony of Ugly Produce
Don’t judge a beet by its cover, “ugly produce” is just as nutritious
Too big. Too small. Crooked. Bumpy. Siamese. Twisted. Asymmetrical. Odd. We could go on, but we won’t. If you think runway models have it hard, think again. Vegetables. Now, they have it rough.
Talk to any farmer that sells to a grocery store, and they’ll tell you that the standards are beyond stringent for fruits and vegetables to make the cut. Just supermodel fruits and vegetables see the fluorescent lights of your favorite grocery store. Believe it or not, the average crop of produce—let’s take carrots, for example—is judged as strictly for its looks as Gisele. Turns out that 1 in 5 fruits and vegetables are tossed if they don’t meet our cosmetic standards. If they bend or curve or do anything that’s not to the ideals of the most perfect carrot that Bugs Bunny might eat, they don’t make it onto the grocery store shelf—unless they’re lucky to make it into this grocery store in Denmark or into Whole Foods’ pilot program in Northern California.
The irony is that the nutrient content of a misshapen carrot is exactly the same—let’s repeat that: exactly the same—as a perfectly shaped one. Nutrition doesn’t discriminate based on looks. So why should we?
This superficial tendency is wasteful, and it’s actually responsible for a fair amount of pollution because as the rejected produce sits and rots, it emits methane—a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming. And back to the wasteful argument: if the nutrients are the same, and the produce generally gets chopped up anyway, why couldn’t we put it to good use by creating a demand for it. Actually, we’re doing just that with our Juicero Packs, and more companies are joining in the movement, too. Estimates show that the food we waste could feed up to 2 billion people.
Enter Emeryville-based Imperfect Produce, a startup that’s confronting this issue. They’re a new CSA that delivers farm-fresh ugly produce boxes at a discount to your doorstep or to a convenient pickup location. They’re in the East Bay now, and just rolled out home-delivery in SF.
If they’re not near you yet, keep an eye out for them and thank us later.