S4 E3 – Is wonky veg worth the hype?
Wonky veg is becoming more common to but in local supermarkets, but is the discounted price really worth it for the quality of veg you’re getting? This episode has the guys try some ‘wonky’ veg and figure out if it tastes, and even looks, any different to regular veg.
Best soundbite: “What would be a wonky banana? A straight banana I guess…” – James Currie
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Very interesting topic. I agree with Barry, I was brought up eating meat and very rarely fish 7 days a week for both lunch and dinner. As an adult I am trying to change that. Not going vegetarian but not eating meat daily. And if you make some delicous I find that it is not really missed.
Your wonky food that is being displayed is sold as normal in our big chain supermarkets. I love to go to a local grocer/butcher /baker that’s really high quality. Fruit is wonderful (they even have tester pieces so you can munch before you buy!) – it’s more expensive but not by that much and it’s so much better
Have been terribly guilty of wastage of food so now I am very vigilant. Any veg that needs eating -I steam till partially cooked and then freeze. I buy less of it i.e get 500g instead of a kilo.
I have teen sons so need a big fridge.
Mike there is nothing wrong with the choc that you refer to as rubbish, only thing that concerns me with that C brand is that there is an allowance for a teeny percentage of …cockroach ???? Because apparently they can get into the machinery and it can’t be helped. I wonder if it’s true or not.
Barry was speaking my mind about meat. I tried my first good steak at 24 after not eating any meat for over five years. Now, at 40, I eat steak 2-3x per week, but I wish I didn‘t… it is my most prominent cognitive dissonance.
I would love to see you guys work with the real junk food project,they have been working really hard to reduce food waste and educating people on what is edible because too many people rely on expiry date or best before date and don’t know the difference between the two.
If it makes fresh fruit and vegs more affordable for people that’s great, but I agree that it’s a marketing ploy and that cabbage was disgusting.
In Ontario we have “naturally imperfect” produce but it’s different from the bag you featured because the produce in the bag is all the same (ex: all carrots). The cost of this produce is significantly reduced or you get much much more for the same price. I’ve purchased these bags of produce often when I’m planning on cooking them, never to eat fresh. When recipes call for large ingredients of an item, I’ll elect to purchase the “naturally imperfects” to reduce my food costs (especially in winter when fresh food prices increase a lot). I’m not choosing to purchase them because it’s environmentally friendly – but to save my wallet. I know that typically ugly items get turned into ready made items, so I’m not sure about the true amount of waste from the food distributors.
A lot of places are doing the mixed veg boxes but there are a couple selling bags in larger quantities as you say. It seems like a great way to use veg if you’re cooking in bulk and again, as you’ve pointed out there is the question of how much would actually have been wasted. Here’s an interesting Twitter thread that Jamie found on the topic: https://t.co/2TkraTAVVe
Let us know what you think!
Interesting thread about wonky veg and food waste: https://twitter.com/SarahTaber_bww/status/1086055092321697794
Yes! Really glad you brought this up, Jamie actually saw the exact same thread a couple of days after filming the episode! Some really interesting points!
I definitely agree with one of the posters on that thread that it must depend on the country. I live in the US so my comments and opinions are based on that. I do think that there is a more mercenary element involved in ugly veg boxes and selling ugly veg but then I read articles like this https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/04/10/398345233/lunch-not-landfill-nonprofit-rescues-produce-rejected-at-u-s-border
and the cynicism falls away.
I definitely recommend watching Just Eat It: A Food Waste Story https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BR1Y-ieyfjU . Very interesting- for half a year the two filmmakers involved ate nothing but food that was destined for the trash. It’s not just wonky veg though. Great interview on NPR from them https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/npr/2015/11/19/456489490/in-just-eat-it-filmmakers-feast-for-6-months-on-discarded-food/
Honestly, kinda makes me want to go dumpster diving.
I’ve also seen a lot of information on the ugly or wonky produce, but it is still a good topic to be thinking and learning about.