Ugly Food

[deborah]

Does anyone have shops around you that sell ugly fruit and vegetables? Evidently there is an ugly food movement that is trying to get shops to sell ugly fruit and vegetables at significant discounts (30% off - see http://www.canberratimes.com.au/comment/inglorious-fruit-and-veg-were-so-aware-of-looks-we-wont-even-eat-ugly-food-20150406-1mdeya.html).

I do not know of anywhere around here that is doing it, but it could be very mustachian to locate your local ugly store! The article talks about places in France and the UK doing it, as well as one of our two most ubiquitous supermarket chains (I haven't seen ugly vegetables at my local store, so I don't know how widespread it is), so maybe there are places in Canada and the US doing it.

Have you come across this?

[Kepler]

I've seen (and occasionally purchased) "odd bunch" packages at Woolworths in Melbourne - although my preference is generally not to buy produce from Woolworths at all, because the local market here is a much better deal (and often has its own discounted "odd" produce without particular fanfare).  My Woolworths buying tends to happen when I've been disorganised and couldn't hit the hours of the market...

But for what it's worth: Woolworths "odd bunch" selections in my area seem somewhat limited and often involve mixes of different kinds of vegetables or fruits, rather than single kinds - which is okay for some purposes, but not for others.  They are also pre-bagged sets, which I personally hate: I'm happy to buy ugly produce, but would like to check each piece out to make sure it's not starting to spoil, and I also don't really want the extra packaging...  And, finally, the things that make it into the Woolworths "odd bunch" packs don't seem particularly... er... odd... which makes me a bit paranoid that it's just a way to shift things that are going to spoil more quickly, rather than an attempt to persuade shoppers to focus on nutrition rather than irrelevant aesthetics.

But in principle I think it's a good initiative, from a food waste perspective - just not sure the Woolworths implementation is all that great.

[pancakes]

When I lived in Brisbane I used to get a box of organic fruit and veg every week or so from a CSA style set up (food connect) that was very pro ugly food. It was very cheap for organic food (but more expensive than non-organic from the markets) and often when I went to pick it up there would be a box of extra rejects that the farmers had had returned from other stores that you could either grab for free or very cheap. Other subscribers would swap out stuff from their boxes that they didn't want or drop off extras from their gardens to share too.

I just had a look and it seems like they've gotten quite a bit more expensive since I last used it.

Back when I worked at a supermarket we were encouraged to throw fruit and veg away if it didn't look perfect. So wasteful.

[alsoknownasDean]

Yeah, I've seen them at Woolworths, and I tend to buy the cheaper market produce. Provided it hasn't started going mouldy or whatever, it's fine :)

Unfortunately some of it doesn't have quite the same shelf life, though.

[MrsPete]

I've never heard the term "ugly food", but often I see -- especially at the end of the summer -- big boxes of "canning tomatoes" for a low price at the farmer's market.  These aren't nicely shaped like the pretty ones at the grocery store, but they've fine to chop up for the thousands (okay, just seems like it) of jars of salsa that I can. 

[asauer]

I have three places where I can ugly F&V that are still actually good:
1. grocery store- I ask the produce manager for these items- usually 50-80% off
2. there are two farms with stands on my route to work that always have a special shelf for the non-perfect stuff that's 50% off

Love it!

[lise]

The second piece on this podcast talks about ugly food ... it's a great movement!  Seriously thinking it could be a good FIRE activity for me to work on.

food programme bbc radio 4

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05mpx0k