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Post by Deleted on Jul 1, 2009 9:29:01 GMT
BBC articleAfter 20 years of standardized shapes and sizes, anarchy again reigns in the EU, but somehow I don't think that the perfect displays at European greengrocers are going to turn ugly. (In retaliation for that, all mobile phone chargers are going to be standardized for all brands starting in 2010 in the EU.)
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Post by hwinpp on Jul 1, 2009 9:53:47 GMT
I don't mind a bit of ugliness. Gives the products character!
At farmer markets they even smear a bit of a chicken shit lookalike onto the eggs to make them look more authentic.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 1, 2009 10:40:01 GMT
I don't know if I would want to try to peel those carrots displayed in the article.
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Post by hwinpp on Jul 1, 2009 10:58:53 GMT
Just saw them... , mkay, I see your point, but I wouldn't even choose those carrots!
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 1, 2009 14:35:18 GMT
At farmer markets they even smear a bit of a chicken shit lookalike onto the eggs to make them look more authentic. ;D ;D Wonder what the person who does that writes down as a job description. I am pretty sure that by "ugly" produce they mean produce that is not rigidly standard. And I doubt very seriously if the carrots in the photo will be showing up anywhere for sale. There is very little standardization of produce here and former first world supermarket shoppers quickly learn that it doesn't matter at all. Some of it I really like -- all the eggs in a carton are not the same size, for instance, which can be handy. Selling all the stuff that doesn't look as though it came from a wax fruit bowl keeps prices down, as well, and gives the consumer more variety. Most of the apples grown in this country do not look like the one the witch offered Snow White, but they taste really good. |
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Post by lagatta on Jul 1, 2009 15:30:56 GMT
The best carrots I buy at marché Jean-Talon are sold out of a small truck by a couple of small farmers, only there at weekends, and they can be as knobbly as the bbc photo, though often longer. I don't mind peeling them - they have so much taste.
I think the shit on the pintade (guinea-hen) eggs I bought yesterday is real. Their chicken-hen eggs are pretty much shit-free.
Even the people who remove the shit from eggs would have quite the job description.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 1, 2009 18:27:30 GMT
I'm not sure if as much of the produce as they claim was lost up until now, since there were plenty of possibly industrial uses for things that did not conform to the rules.
One might also wonder if more things might spoil now. One advantage of the standard shapes and sizes was that they were much easier to transport and keep without damage.
However, offsetting this is the new desire to have as small a carbon imprint as possible and to sell things close to home. Only time will tell which method works better.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 1, 2009 18:40:56 GMT
There was probably too much perfection. It's a far cry between perfectly straight, identical-in-diameter carrots to those mandrake styled ones in the article's photo.
It will be interesting to see if produce is going to be sorted into homely, passable, & pretty in the grocers' bins, with the relative attractiveness reflected in the pricing.
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Post by auntieannie on Jul 2, 2009 21:09:43 GMT
Here, the really wonky carrots are sold as "juicing carrots" much cheaper than their straighter counterparts... and delicious all the same!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 2, 2009 21:19:27 GMT
That is so obvious. Just as ugly oranges are sold as juice oranges, etc. People who think that so much of the ugly produce is being lost are misinformed. Why would the produce industry be more stupid than the meat industry, which wastes nothing?
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