By Arthur Gorrie
Richard Tourino and Jonathan Englert call it the “cult of the perfect (looking) tomato,“ but they say there is a lot more to quality fruit and vegetables than meets the eye.
They have founded an organisation, Good and Fugly, which aims to introduce consumers to the virtues of fruit and vegetables that do not necessarily meet supermarket or big wholesale market apearance requirements – the kind of tasty and nutritious produce that is routinely thrown out.
Good and Fugly aims to rescue these allegedly imperfect products and deliver them to cusgtomers in its initial area of operation.
“The world is full of rejects,“ they say.
“In Australia, up to 25 per cent of all produce doesn’t leave the farm. The cosmetic standards of supermarkets means an astounding amount of great food never reaches our plates.“
They have started a business which home delivers “perfectly imperfect“ produce.
“Our team is on a mission to make saving the planet affordable, convenient and delicious,“ they say.
Although their service is not yet available in Gympie, the essence of what they are talking about is availalable, along with some perfectly good looking produce, at farmers markets across Gympie region.
They claim the throw-out culture inflicted on farmers and consumers means 7.3 million tonnes of perfectly good but slightly blemished food is thrown out each year.
And it is not only tomatoes that suffer this nutritional injustice.
Carrots too, are often not the perfect shape of those associated with Bugs Bunny cartoons, the grocery activists say.
