When I walk into a grocery store, all of the fruits and veggies are always nicely stacked, labeled, and they all look uniform. Besides the odd bruised banana or the smushed plum that fell off the stack too many times, the shapes, colours, and sizes of each type of produce look almost identical. Many of us have heard about “ugly fruit”, being the rejects solely due to beauty, not taste or nutrition. However, other than pricing them consistently lower, how are people supposed to market this ugly fruit sustainably?
Sidenote that really doesn’t matter, but I’m giving it lots of attention: Originally, I was going to name this blog post “pie for pi”. Then I realized that that was both mildly inaccurate and incredibly obscure (food though… like pie? Econ though… pi = profit? eh? ehhh? Okay, that was definitely not as witty as I hoped).
One shop based in Portland figured out a way – Salt & Straw is known for unusual flavours and plays on traditional ice creams.
“Every four weeks, Salt & Straw rotates in a new themed seasonal menu, built around integrating other parts of the food world into ice cream.” (Fast Company, 2017)
This June, all of their flavours will be made from food that would’ve otherwise been thrown out. For example, the spices for one of the ice creams will be made by re-steeping the spices that were used at Portland’s East Side Distillery.
Salt & Straw is stepping further outside of the unusual – not just looking at ugly food, but showing that even “food waste” doesn’t have to be waste. It has been seen through countless other examples that reframing otherwise unwanted items into unique experiences can be successful and can ultimately alter perceptions (such as the fashion designer who created the VV-line that we watched in class). I’m hoping that Salt & Straw’s June menu is going to be another example of this, and that it becomes regular across all of their locations (even if it’s just one menu item).
victoriayang
April 8, 2017 — 8:52 pm
That sounds like a really neat idea! I’ve also heard about a cool subscription service in LA called Imperfect Produce that delivers affordable ugly produce to your home. I suspect there are a lot opportunities for food services companies to use ugly produce in ways that customers won’t even notice, and will help them cut costs. I found it super interesting to see that eating what they marketed as “inglorious” or “wonky” produce has already become more of a norm in Europe and Australia. Just like eating organic foods, public education, branding, and accessibility are going to be really key in shifting consumer behaviour around ugly food.
robertograssi
April 10, 2017 — 5:27 pm
This is a really interesting idea from Salt & Straw. I can’t even imagine how many nutrients and flavours are wasted when we throw out food that could be “repurposed”. It may be somewhat of an “icky” idea to use the same ingredients in different dishes, however, if we look to the past and see how those communities cooked, we can see it put in practice. For example, bone marrow soup which is made from the insides of the bones after the meat has been eaten away or cut away. In regards to the usage of the ugly fruits and vegetables, I know that in Brazil some companies that produce by products such as juices and canned soups use only foods that do not fit the “beauty standard” because they are cheaper and taste exactly the same.