The good, the bad and the ugly

Visit any supermarket produce department and you’ll see beautifully arranged bins with towering mounds of perfectly formed, glossy fruits and vegetables. There is nary a blemish or mark on the produce. But as any gardener knows, not all cucumbers are straight, sometimes carrots look funny, and apples are frequently lopsided. A great many fruits and vegetables don’t conform to the supermarket ideals of beauty. So why don’t we see them in the stores? Supermarket produce managers would likely say it’s because people won’t buy the imperfect foods. But one grocer is seeking to change that. Intermarché, France’s third-largest grocery chain, has launched a campaign to get people to buy less than perfect produce.

Featuring clever ads for “inglorious” fruits and vegetables, the stores hope to entice customers to buy “the ridiculous potato,” the “disfigured eggplant,” and the “failed lemon” by offering a 30% discount. The goal is to reduce food waste – almost all imperfect produce is just tossed by the growers. You may have seen this video making the rounds on social media with calls for other supermarkets to emulate the campaign, which has been quite successful. Have any of the stores in your area tried to do this or something similar?