Ugly Organic
The fruits and vegetables that you can buy at grocery stores or huge shopping centers (like Wal-Mart) may not taste like much, but for the most part they're visually appealing. Recently, I've noticed that the fruit and veg. at my local farmer's market isn't looking so hot.
I love that the money I spend at farmer's markets goes to local organic farms, I love that the produce is seasonal, I even love that all of the offerings look like real food and not like plastic, but what's with the wilted greens and sad looking fruits? Does my tiny local farmer's market suck, or has anyone else noticed this?
You always hear chefs say, "You eat with your eyes first." Organic produce is important to me, but is it worth its price if it looks less than stellar? Would you rather buy good-looking bland produce or not-so-good-looking organic produce?
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14 Comments:
i think the natural women walking around are waaaay more attractive than the botoxed, silicone-filled, spray tanned anorexic robots i see on tv.
beauty is in the eye of the beholder, i suppose. i think the irregularities in organic fruits and vegetables give them character & beauty! plus, most of it gets chopped up into a beautiful, delicious meal.
if your farmers' market is tiny, it may just not have the turnover that we get in bigger cities.
dmarina at 2:07AM on 06/20/09
It depends, if I was making say a stew and I have the veggies chopped up and in a sauce no problem. If I was to have a dinner party and was to make a salad I would not want to have wilted lettuce.
pjracz10 at 2:29AM on 06/20/09
Well, if the organic produce you are seeing is actually wilted and/or on the edge of going over rather than just kinda lumpy/spotted/funny colored etc. like regular organic produce, then it is not worth buying.
But regular organic produce that is fresh but 'ugly' as you put it is my first choice every time. Natural is prettier to me, especially since the taste is often so much better. Completely worth a few ugly points to get wonderful taste. We have been conditioned to think our produce should be "commercial" perfect, like plastic, which is just silly.
sadiepix at 4:17AM on 06/20/09
My first question to you would be, "Is the time of day you are shopping a factor in the quality of the offerings you are faced with?" Two things may come into play; Too early in the morning and your supplier may be trying to unload what was left over from yesterday's pickings or, if you're getting there late in the day, hot sun and warm temps. may be wilting at your choices. Yes, organic is not necessarily beautiful but you might try "freshening" your picks by giving them a nice cool bath when you get home. If that fails to make things right, find a new place to shop...
czken at 5:36AM on 06/20/09
Your observation is one I feel was much more true about 25 years ago when I first began seeing organic produce in supermarkets. It was usually relegated to a small, cramped section and the produce looked like garbage. Wilted and full of holes from bugs, it was 2x the cost of the other produce offered. I remember thinking "give me the chemicals - I'm not paying that much for lettuce that looks like it's been run over." These days, organic produce offered in mainstream supermarkets looks a whole lot better and the price disparity from treated produce isn't nearly as great.
If you're shopping at a farmer's market, czken's point of the time of day you're shopping certainly has bearing on the quality and condition of the produce you'll find. After a day of pounding heat and "picking over," late-day farmer's market produce will be haggard and wilted. I'll also echo his last sentiment - if refreshing the produce when you get it home doesn't help, find a new place to shop. Farmer's markets are popping up everywhere like errant spring mushrooms (if you can excuse the pun) and the one where you shop isn't necessarily the "only game in town" anymore.
therealchiffonade at 6:27AM on 06/20/09
What day of the week matters too. If there are truck farmers in your area feeding fresh produce to your market on a weekly basis it pays to know what day they deliver and try to be there that day or the next morning.
Another problem I have run into is that many farmers are planting the same high-yield strains of tomatoes that are sold in grocery stores and are picking the tomatoes early. This results in tomatoes that do not taste that much better than the pink goo you can get at the air conditioned grocery store.
Grumpy Old Man at 6:47AM on 06/20/09
Since I'm eating it and not taking a picture of it, I'd rather it taste great and not care what it looks like.
The local heirloom tomatoes I get are hideous, but they're divine to eat!
gingercookiewithlime at 8:11AM on 06/20/09
Produce past it's prime is one thing. Produce that doesn't win a beauty contest is another. Are you buying this food to look at it or to eat it?
joyyy at 11:37AM on 06/20/09
It's funny, but in once grocery store I go to, the organic is keep in a separate section and it always looks sad and abused. At the other stores, there's no separate organic section, and the food looks like it's treated better. In most cases, though, I find that the organic lettuce almost always looks better than the non-organic, and the organic bananas and mangoes almost always look terrible.
At the farmer's market, you can't really tell the difference between the organic farmers and the non-organic. Some of the small farmers -- and I mean oversized back yards -- usually have pretty sad-looking produce. One guy had really nice asparagus, though. But the leafy stuff was all pretty wilty. I suspect it's all in the handling. The guys who are doing it on a larger scale know the tricks. One told me that sometimes it's a matter of when the produce is picked, because at some point in the day, it's most full of water and if you pick it then, it will stay looking nicer for longer.
dbcurrie at 12:48PM on 06/20/09
Dbcurrie is totally right, if greens aren't picked in the morning and kept out of the sun and washed quickly they will get very sad and wilty. The handling can ruin good stuff quickly.
Fruit is another matter since some of it is really tricky to grow organically but in general it sounds like some of this stuff might just be mishandled, shop elsewhere.
swampyankee at 3:54PM on 06/20/09
i still think organic produce and farmers markets are worth it. the food may not be as pretty and blemish free, but if it's fresh i think its still great!
the food at the grocery stores and walmart are pretty, but i think it's all a well orchestrated illusion.
_greenbean at 3:57PM on 06/20/09
The "perfect" produce at the grocery store totally freaks me out. Nothing grown in the ground under natural conditions looks like that. I actually seek out the odd looking produce at the farmer's market; it amuses me. I have trouble resisting produce in odd shapes (e.g. one day I HAD to buy a sweet potato because it was shaped like a bird). I consider the bumps and lumps and imperfections to be badges of honor for the fruits and veggies.
ProfessorChaos at 7:53PM on 06/20/09
i need that happy medium between scary Stepford perfect Walmart produce and organic crunchy granola produce.
I recently visited a locavore organic farmers market, there were about 8 vendors. most of the vegetables/greens i didn't recognize, and when i vendor convinced me to buy some weedy looking greens they were absolutely filthy.
don't get me wrong, i don't mind washing my stuff at home. i'm going to do that anyways, regardless of how clean the veggies/greens are. but it doesn't hurt your marketing to leave some of the dirt at the farm.
redhead at 4:26PM on 06/22/09
@professorchaos -- so well put.... "badges of honor for the fruits and veggies" i'm with you, pal.
pooch at 9:23PM on 06/22/09