I’m hoping to do a more entertaining post later today, but in the meantime, I strongly recommend you all go and read this post by Not Quite Nigella about Food Banks and waste in the food industry.
Here’s a little taste of it:
…have you noticed that in the last few years, those long watermelons with the black pips from our childhood have disappeared and there are now only those round, seedless watermelons? That’s because the stores say that consumers don’t want watermelons with seeds anymore and the same goes for grapes. The long seeded watermelons still have to be grown because these are the male watermelons while the rounded ones are females. “A crying shame” Lou says “I like the taste of the long ones better” and everyone nods in agreement. They can’t sell them and they are ready at an earlier time than the round seedless watermelons so they just stay in the field unpicked.
I must admit, my penchant for buying weirdly shaped and or coloured vegetables at the Farmer’s Market is aesthetic rather than political, and of course I’ve been vaguely aware that supermarket fruit and veg is more uniform and assumed there was wastage… but to simply throw away half a crop because of (unproven) concerns that the customer might not like dealing with the seeds? That’s far beyond my imaginings. I really am shocked by this.
Go read the full article – I think it’s something we should all be aware of.
As for me, I’m wondering if there is any action I can take beyond continuing my allegiance to Farmers’ Markets. Thoughts, anyone?
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