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Loading...Why Aren’t We Eating Ugly Produce?
- Becky Striepe
- October 28, 2012
- 2:05 pm
- 65 comments
You know that food waste is bad for the planet and for your wallet, but one of the major causes of waste in our food system is something you might not expect.
Yes, we waste a lot of food by tossing leftovers and letting food spoil in the fridge, but before most of our food reaches store shelves, it has to look the part. Wait….what?
It’s true! Grocery stores won’t sell ugly produce, because consumers don’t tend to buy ugly produce. That means an apple that’s a little misshapen or an onion that has a spot on it ends up in the compost heap or the landfill, rather than at the store, and all of that wasted food drives up food prices by decreasing supply.
We already don’t produce enough fruits and vegetables to meet suggested daily serving amounts for everyone, and at the same time we’re further reducing access to produce by tossing fruits and veggies just because they’re not picture perfect.
What’s mind-blowing about this problem is that ugly produce is no less healthy than the perfect-looking fruits and veggies that make it to the grocery store. One of my favorite ugly veggies is what my friend Rob calls a “pants carrot.” You can see a beautiful pants carrot – which you’d never find at a conventional grocery store – pictured at the top of this page.
So, what can we, as consumers, do about this huge waste of food? We only have so much power, but there are ways that we can keep ugly produce out of the landfill and put it onto our plates. Check out how on the next page!
Image Credit: Photo by Becky Striepe
Read more: Community Service, Conscious Consumer, Do Good, Eco-friendly tips, Food, Green, Green Kitchen Tips, Make a Difference, Videos, Videos, Videos, Videos, community supported agriculture, csa, farmers' markets, food waste, local food, reduce food waste, reducing food waste, wasting food
Becky Striepe
Becky Striepe is a freelance writer and vegan crafter living in Atlanta, Georgia. Her life’s mission is to make green crafting and vegan food accessible to everyone! Like this article? You can follow Becky on Twitter or find her on Facebook!
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may
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Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.
people are talking
Interesting. Thank you.
Looking forward to trying some of these. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for sharing.
Awww cool, thanks! ☺
Yummy recipe,thanks for sharing
65 comments
+ add your ownI would prefer to buy imperfect produce at a discount. When it's chopped up who knows the difference anyway!?!
As long as they haven't been sprayed to make them look fresh to look better!
Watch for roadside markets or local farmers!
Scrub and they are just fine!
Thank You
Ugly is good!
As far as the ugly produce, it is not bad inherently, but it can.does disguise bad(gone bad) produce. For example. When I look at oranges, I want to buy ones where the skin has minimal dimpling.
The smoother the rind, the juicier the orange will be. Whereas a heavily dimpled rind could be juicy, but it could also be a sign that the fruit inside has dried out. Have you ever eaten an orange only to discover you can't eat the whole thing because half of it is dried out, bitter fruit?
With the reference to transferring the corn eaten by cows to people
" If we got those grains directly to people, think of how many hungry mouths we could feed!"
: And all those people would have pellagra and their brains would be dying. Pellagra: A serious nutritional shortfall disease when one consumes predominantly one grain-corn. Steer don't get pellagra.
Our food never has the time to go bad. We only prepare as much as we need to eat within a day, and fruits or veggies don't last long around us.
Thanks! I love Care2 for always planting little seeds in my head...
When I am at a grocery store I may start seeking out the "ugly" produce.
Thank you
Unbelievable this goes on when the starving have nothing...
I love oddly shaped fruits. I find them "quirky", and have nothing against eating them. That is just a waste.
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