Wonky or wasted?

Media volunteer Lauren shares her thoughts on ‘wonky veg’ in her latest blog.

Natural things never look perfectly neat. That’s why they are natural and not man-made. I remember a time when I worked in a DIY store and a customer bought some boxes of slate tiles. He kept coming back to the shop with different boxes saying that when he was laying them they did not match. Some were different colours or different shades, some had odd colours in them or odd patterns. Each time, I kept explaining that it was a natural product and the beauty was the fact that they did not match perfectly.

It’s the same with our fruit and vegetables. Some may be big, some small, some with lumps and bumps, some with three points, some are discoloured, some have two stalks and some even take on a human form, but the taste is just as good. For so many years, supermarkets have been discarding this so-called ‘wonky veg’ as they think it is not aesthetically pleasing to customers. Some shops have already begun to sell wonky veg boxes – we need to buy these and show them that, we the consumers, don’t want all of that perfectly good food going to waste. They’re often cheaper too, which is definitely a consideration when I shop!

When we grow our own fruit and vegetables, we are so overjoyed that we managed to grow it ourselves, and that it is completely natural, that we never once consider throwing it out because it ‘doesn’t look perfect’. After all the love and attention given to it? I think not! We set about cooking or eating it, and rejoicing in the fact that we did it ourselves. We show off and tell our friends of our little victories (OK maybe that’s just me as being able to grow anything from scratch is an achievement…). We need to start thinking about the fruit and vegetables that we buy from shops in the same way – effort and resources have still gone into growing them, and whatever they look like, they are still valuable food that shouldn’t be wasted!

I realise food has to look pleasing to the eye to make someone want to eat it, but let’s save that for the dinner plate and not for the supermarket trolley.

We want the wonky!!

Local and seasonal fruit and veg

By growing fruit and vegetables ourselves, or buying them from local farmers, we bring these hidden gems out for all to see and taste. I always enjoy my food more when I know it is healthy and natural and I’m sure a lot of people would agree with that. Greener Kirkcaldy run Grow Your Own workshops to help people learn how to grow their own food. Don’t have growing space? You can order local, seasonal and organic produce every fortnight through the Fife Food for Fife Folk project.