Approximately 72 billion pounds of food is wasted annually in the US—from every point in the food production cycle.
In an attempt to lower this number, a new crop of companies has emerged over the last couple of years. Companies that are on a mission to get people to eat misshapen, deformed, and strange-looking fruits and vegetables.
Venture capital-backed businesses like Imperfect Foods, Full Harvest, Hungry Harvest, and Misfits Market aim to create a new channel of distribution for farmers, offering customers ugly produce at a discount to what the groceries would cost at retail.
But Sarah Taber isn’t buying it. She thinks the ugly food movement is bending the industry narrative and has taken it upon herself to fill people in on the bigger picture.
In 2019, Taber, a crop scientist who worked on farms for a decade, doing everything from detasseling corn to beekeeping, and is now consulting with several greenhouse and indoor agricultural companies, published a Twitter thread to share her thoughts.
More info: Twitter
Image credits: Cajsa_Lilliehook (not the actual photo)
Image credits: SarahTaber_bww
Ugly food has always been around. Like all living beings, produce isn’t always perfect. Not to mention all the shipping and handling that goes into the modern food supply chain, where things get banged up. Some people act like ugly food is a horrible tragedy that’s preventable, but really, this is just the nature of fresh produce.
“The way the food system mainly used to deal with perishability … was by canning and freezing produce,” Taber told Vox. “[But] the sustainable food movement [changed that]. They came around and said everyone needs to eat more fresh produce and should know where their food comes from. This has turned into an expression of a cultural crisis: its created anxiety.
“People now panic if they don’t know where food comes from, and the constant messaging about how you “should” reinforce the anxiety. Any time people are having these anxieties, marketers take advantage of it. But the market-based solutions that marketing endorses don’t fix the root cause.”
In an interesting move, Imperfect Foods diversified into other grocery categories, like dairy, meat, and pantry items. Some of these are still “imperfect” products, like coffee beans that were too small or misshapen almonds, but others are not.
Image credits: sarahtaber_bww
Image credits: SarahTaber_bww
Image credits: SarahTaber_bww
Image credits: SarahTaber_bww
Taber is skeptical of ugly food companies’ chances to contribute to the common good. “They say that a lot of the ugly produce goes to waste. But there’s a huge part of that produce that goes to food service, where it gets cut up and appearance doesn’t matter,” she pointed out.
“Honestly, I think these companies just found a good hustle that makes them look good and makes money. There’s nothing morally wrong with that, but to go out and say, “I’m saving the world and I’m fixing a food problem,” when there are actually better solutions is really disingenuous. It’s just a profit-oriented solution.”
Image credits: SarahTaber_bww
Image credits: SarahTaber_bww
Taber stressed it’s important that shoppers stay true to themselves. “If you’re buying ugly produce and it’s working for you, that’s fine. Keep doing it. Don’t feel guilty. That’s how food systems are supposed to work — it’s supposed to get what you want.”
But you should not feel obligated to buy ugly fruit because someone told you it’s going to save the world. It’s not, according to her, it’s just supporting someone’s business model.
Image credits: SarahTaber_bww
Image credits: SarahTaber_bww
Image credits: SarahTaber_bww
Image credits: SarahTaber_bww
Image credits: SarahTaber_bww
Image credits: SarahTaber_bww
Image credits: SarahTaber_bww
Image credits: SarahTaber_bww
Image credits: SarahTaber_bww
Image credits: SarahTaber_bww
Image credits: SarahTaber_bww
Image credits: SarahTaber_bww
Image credits: SarahTaber_bww
Image credits: SarahTaber_bww
Image credits: SarahTaber_bww
Image credits: SarahTaber_bww
Image credits: SarahTaber_bww
Image credits: SarahTaber_bww
Here’s what people said after reading Taber’s thread
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Informative, but I couldn't make it all the way through - chip on author's shoulder is way too large. Glad they're passionate about something but talk about over reaction, jeebus! Ranting and raving about a well-meaning outlook that really isn't that harmful? Maybe get a hobby or something?
My sentiments exactly. I’ve never even heard of this “movement.” I’ve seen ugly or overripe food at farmer’s markets, where it’s cheaper, but that’s it. And there it makes perfect sense.
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While there were some good points, the level of rage and generalizations about consumers and meandering arguments made me tap out.
I never added this as a reply to Stille, no clue how it ended up here. My comment was not aimed at you Stille. But besides that I have never encountered a successful company focusing on ugly produce. Only silky geese trying to make it work.And my point is that if that is what someone is going on about at this point in time, they need to see that the world is a lot bigger.
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This was very interesting, but the author seems very angry with ordinary people who probably don't know about these issues because they haven't been on their radar. Don't get angry with me just because I don't know this information that you're an expert in.
Informative, but I couldn't make it all the way through - chip on author's shoulder is way too large. Glad they're passionate about something but talk about over reaction, jeebus! Ranting and raving about a well-meaning outlook that really isn't that harmful? Maybe get a hobby or something?
My sentiments exactly. I’ve never even heard of this “movement.” I’ve seen ugly or overripe food at farmer’s markets, where it’s cheaper, but that’s it. And there it makes perfect sense.
Load More Replies... While there were some good points, the level of rage and generalizations about consumers and meandering arguments made me tap out.
I never added this as a reply to Stille, no clue how it ended up here. My comment was not aimed at you Stille. But besides that I have never encountered a successful company focusing on ugly produce. Only silky geese trying to make it work.And my point is that if that is what someone is going on about at this point in time, they need to see that the world is a lot bigger.
Load More Replies... This was very interesting, but the author seems very angry with ordinary people who probably don't know about these issues because they haven't been on their radar. Don't get angry with me just because I don't know this information that you're an expert in.
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