Photos courtesy of Misfits Market
In America alone, we waste $160 billion worth in food, around 30 to 40 percent of our entire food supply. Another, equally disturbing statistic: 5.8 million U.S. households suffer from severe food insecurity. We're literally throwing away enough food to feed all the hungry people in our own country.
Misfits Markets is taking a stand. The company began only a few years ago, started by Abhi Ramesh. Growing up in Georgia, Ramesh moved to Philadelphia and found a massive underserved population in food deserts. What surprised him most, was that the area surrounding Philly was full of farms growing produce.
"I saw firsthand a lot of the issues around food accessibility when it came to fresh, organic produce," Ramesh says.
One particular incident that started it all happened at an apple orchard in one of those areas surrounding Philly. He and his friends went to go pick fruit and saw all the slightly bruised or fallen fruit on the ground be collected and stored by farmers. When Ramesh asked what happened to the leftover fruit, workers responded that although they tried to use it for composting, most of it would be thrown away.
"These 'ugly' fruits and veggies are just as tasty as the perfect ones," - Ramesh
Misfits Markets is a subscription service that delivers fresh produce to your door that has been leftover or tossed aside because of it not looking pretty, the size or excess. Each box comes with a well-balanced mix of fruits and vegetables, depending on the season.
"You'll get varieties of leafy greens, fruits and root vegetables," Ramesh says. "Broccoli, carrots, cucumbers, cauliflower, snap peas, mangos, apples, pears, spinach and collard greens."
The produce mainly comes from regional farms across the northeast. "Ugly" foods are simply aesthetically unappealing to grocery stores, meaning absolutely nothing is wrong with them, but are thrown away because of shape or size. Squash that's bent, a smaller sized cucumber or an apple that's just the wrong color - all would be thrown in the garbage if not for Misfit Markets.
"These 'ugly' fruits and veggies are just as tasty as the perfect ones," Ramesh says. "Some of our customers even say that they are tastier and fresher, the reason being we're shipping them straight from the farm to people's doorsteps."
Food waste can seem like such a massive problem that oftentimes people are discouraged, thinking they individually can't do much to stop the epidemic. Ramesh assures that there are plenty of ways people can make a difference.
"For one, buying from our platform helps," he says. "But if you're going to the grocery store - plan ahead. It sounds simple, but thinking about when you're going to be out of town and how much food you need can save food waste."
Another way to reduce food waste is learning how to use every part of a fruit or vegetable. A lot of people toss out parts of produce because they don't think it's edible - but Ramesh says most every part of a fruit and vegetable can be used in some form of food, whether it's vegetable stock or jam.
So consider Misfits Market and rethink making judgments on what's 'ugly' - because stopping food waste in the world is simply beautiful!
Mallory Arnold is an assistant editor. Feedback welcome at marnold@cityscenemediagroup.com.
