An assortment of brightly colored fruits and vegetables in close up.
Photo: Andrew Zuckerman

The Ugliest, Most Delicious Produce You’ll Ever Eat

By Aileen Kwun
July 25, 2020
1 minute read

Supermarkets put billions of pounds of perfectly fine, edible food to waste each year for the very silly, Goldilocks reason of them simply not appearing to be “perfect” enough: Misshapen, too small, too big, or slightly bruised or discolored fruits and vegetables are often deemed unsellable for purely cosmetic reasons—a fact that’s all the more infuriating when you consider that this industry-standard frivolity accounts for one of the largest culprits of carbon emissions worldwide. In the U.S., nearly half of all harvested produce is never eaten. The home-delivery start-up Misfits Market aims to right the wrong of this senseless global food crisis, selling only produce that is certified organic, non-GMO, and free of pesticides—no superficial criteria necessary. The company offers a subscription-based service of a rotating assortment to arrive on a weekly or biweekly basis, similar to a CSA box. The often quirky, imperfect, and—we hesitate to call it this, but yes, “ugly”—produce snubbed by big-box grocers reflects a variability that’s inherent to nature and, looks aside, tastes downright delicious.