Gorgeous day on the farmette, although we got a trace of snow overnight. I am really itching to get in the garden, but with the temperature still below zero most days, not to mention rock hard ground (at least we can SEE it), it’s a bit on the early side.
Instead, I can dream…it was very encouraging this week to see Loblaws jump on the ugly produce bandwagon. Selling small or misshapen fruits and vegetables at discounted prices just seems so sane to me. Far better than wasting them. Especially since we usually grow a certain percentage of the misfits ourselves.
Look at this beauty. Ripped from my garden at the end of August. I took this picture because, at the time, I was pitching a story idea about how selling these in Canada would be a good idea, since they had been selling out in France at the Intermarche. Obviously someone else was thinking the same.
Now, I think we can go one further. What if the retailers held contests in which people would enter their vegetables for how much they resemble celebrities? For example, put a head on the carrot above, clean it up, and voila, you have a rather fetching Mae West, no?
You could call the contest the Cliff Clavin Classic, after the Cheers character who saw Richard Nixon’s face in a potato and Meryl Streep’s image in a cob of corn.
I can see it, people vying for the big prize with their Reese Witherspoon sweet peas and Will Farrell squash.
But no, it might make people crazy - start breeding the plants for certain characteristics. Wildly out-of-proportion cucumbers to resemble a reclining Kim Kardashian. Totally disfigured eggplants to look like Bob Newhart. Or, heaven forbid, broccoli a la President Donald Trump!
We might get people rioting in the streets over the competitions. Carnage. Whoa. Got a shiver. A little too much dreaming there, Walter Mitty.
Maybe we should just stick to growing and eating the stuff - whatever shape it’s in - as long as it’s safe, tasty and fresh.