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One way to help keep your produce choices greener is to skip the clear beauty pageant winning vegetables and fruit. There are negatives to those uniform rows of shiny waxed apples you see. You know, the apples that are minus any discoloration or odd shapes.
Perfect fruits and veggies aren’t that great because…
- They’re usually not organic – there’s a clear visual difference at the store between organic and non-organic produce. Organic aren’t as pretty and uniform, but they’re also free from pesticides (the clear winning choice).
- They increase useless waste. Customers think they have to buy perfect looking produce which encourages the stores to request such produce which in turn encourages farmers to discard the worst looking produce – fine if they compost but still that’s a lot of waste just to have perfectly straight carrots.
- Produce is not always beautiful naturally. Ask any gardener and they’ll tell you that their produce, blemishes and all are show-stopping beauties. I agree. Real produce is variable and each oddly shaped tomato has its own charm. However, folks at the store only want super pretty produce, even if it takes crop modification, pesticides, and wax coverings to get them. Nature is diverse and the sooner people accept it the better.
Odd shapes, varied color pigments, and other visual imperfections rarely taint the taste of produce. Yes, avoid bruises and other such produce injuries, but don’t aim for the prettiest cucumber at the party. All of this food ends up in the same place anyhow – your stomach, and by then no one cares how it looks.
[image via stock.xchng]
