7 ms·

This reminds me heavily on the 'perfect food' issue primarily in western countries. Every apple that's not pretty, every cucumber that's not straight and so on.

by sekasi 8y ago

This reminds me heavily on the 'perfect food' issue primarily in western countries. Every apple that's not pretty, every cucumber that's not straight and so on. All just goes from the supermarket into a bin. It's a really horrible amount of waste that easily could solve many issues around poverty and hunger, but yet, very little action. Good to see more momentum around food waste.

debacle 8y ago
It's also horrible because, in the quest for the perfect looking food, flavor and nutrition are often the first thing to go.
- taneq 8y ago
  Perfect looking with unnaturally long shelf life, yeah. Tomatoes certainly aren't the same thing I remember them being, for instance.
  - wishinghand 8y ago
    How did they used to taste?
    - rootusrootus 8y ago
      You can grow excellent tomatoes yourself, or head to a local farmer's market for a reasonable selection of 'real' tomatoes. The short answer -- a properly ripe tomato doesn't need any help whatsoever from salt or sugar to make it tasty.
    - jazzyjackson 8y ago
      Keep your eyes out for "Heirloom tomatoes" or my favorite, zebra-stripe tomatoes. They're a lot smaller, vary in color a lot. Pack a punch, I like to just snack on them whole.
    - taneq 8y ago
      Like tomatoes, instead of like watery cardboard.
      - wishinghand 8y ago
        That doesn't help answer the question at all.
  - ams6110 8y ago
    The big problem with tomatoes is that the ones that go to supermarkets are harvested green and ripened artificially. They don't develop the same flavors as a natural sun-ripened tomato. But, a sun-ripened tomato at the peak of ripeness is both too fragile and too short lived to be shipped and sold in supermarkets. I think the same is true for a lot of other fruits.
- randomdata 8y ago
  The science suggests that food is becoming less nutritious because of more abundant carbon dioxide, not directly due to farming practices.
  - andrewflnr 8y ago
    I have never heard that. Link?
    - randomdata 8y ago
      Here is a NY Times article discussing the topic: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/23/climate/rice-global-warming.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/23/climate/rice-global-warmi...
  - whatshisface 8y ago
    You could just breed it back down to being slower-growing if that was the case, if that was what any big farmer wanted...
    - randomdata 8y ago
      Realistically, what the farmer wants is irrelevant. A farmer who grows what a farmer wants is a farmer that is no longer in business. You need to have customers to stay in business, and so the customer always dictates what is grown. Customers don't buy product they don't want – why would they? If the customer desires a slower-growing plant, the customer will get a slower-growing plant (assuming the tech companies are able to make the science work, but that's outside of the hands of farmers). Although knowing the average consumer, there is a good chance they would never accept a slower-growing plant as it may cause autism or some other story that they start to spread around.
  - jazzyjackson 8y ago
    The breeding of a bigger, rounder, more beautiful tomato has absolutely come at the cost of nutrition. See https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/26/opinion/sunday/breeding-the-nutrition-out-of-our-food.html https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/26/opinion/sunday/breeding-t... "Breeding the Nutrition Out of Our Food" ". The loss of these beneficial nutrients did not begin 50 or 100 years ago, as many assume. Unwittingly, we have been stripping phytonutrients from our diet since we stopped foraging for wild plants some 10,000 years ago and became farmers." The rising CO2 doesn't help tho.
ams6110 8y ago
That's really not true. Imperfect food is generally not sent to the supermarket. Imperfect apples become applesauce. Imperfect cucumbers become relish or pickle slices. Imperfect tomatoes become ketchup.
- sekasi 8y ago
  While you're not incorrect, there's a whole slew of the 'on the fence' produce that DOES get sent to supermarkets, and then don't get sold. There's been a few documentaries about it, well worth a watch.
fraudsyndrome 8y ago
Yep, I know someone that ran a company stocking vegetables/fruits for one of the top supermarket chains here - they were the middlepeople who packed the pallets. It's a very hard working/high demand place, it wouldn't be uncommon for the boss to have a 16 hour day every so often. Meth runs rampant for people to stay awake, people take a piss in the corner of the factory and have a smoke while packing. Anything that has a cut or bruise gets thrown in the trash, not sent to another place to get processed, not composted, just thrown in the trash. Any staff can take home stuff at the end of the day that doesn't get thrown out, this would be enough veggies/fruits for 1-2 weeks for them.. just from a single day.

by sekasi 8y ago

debacle 8y ago

It's also horrible because, in the quest for the perfect looking food, flavor and nutrition are often the first thing to go.

taneq 8y ago
Perfect looking with unnaturally long shelf life, yeah. Tomatoes certainly aren't the same thing I remember them being, for instance.
- wishinghand 8y ago
  How did they used to taste?
  - rootusrootus 8y ago
    You can grow excellent tomatoes yourself, or head to a local farmer's market for a reasonable selection of 'real' tomatoes. The short answer -- a properly ripe tomato doesn't need any help whatsoever from salt or sugar to make it tasty.
  - jazzyjackson 8y ago
    Keep your eyes out for "Heirloom tomatoes" or my favorite, zebra-stripe tomatoes. They're a lot smaller, vary in color a lot. Pack a punch, I like to just snack on them whole.
  - taneq 8y ago
    Like tomatoes, instead of like watery cardboard.
    - wishinghand 8y ago
      That doesn't help answer the question at all.
- ams6110 8y ago
  The big problem with tomatoes is that the ones that go to supermarkets are harvested green and ripened artificially. They don't develop the same flavors as a natural sun-ripened tomato. But, a sun-ripened tomato at the peak of ripeness is both too fragile and too short lived to be shipped and sold in supermarkets. I think the same is true for a lot of other fruits.
randomdata 8y ago
The science suggests that food is becoming less nutritious because of more abundant carbon dioxide, not directly due to farming practices.
- andrewflnr 8y ago
  I have never heard that. Link?
  - randomdata 8y ago
    Here is a NY Times article discussing the topic: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/23/climate/rice-global-warming.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/23/climate/rice-global-warmi...
- whatshisface 8y ago
  You could just breed it back down to being slower-growing if that was the case, if that was what any big farmer wanted...
  - randomdata 8y ago
    Realistically, what the farmer wants is irrelevant. A farmer who grows what a farmer wants is a farmer that is no longer in business. You need to have customers to stay in business, and so the customer always dictates what is grown. Customers don't buy product they don't want – why would they? If the customer desires a slower-growing plant, the customer will get a slower-growing plant (assuming the tech companies are able to make the science work, but that's outside of the hands of farmers). Although knowing the average consumer, there is a good chance they would never accept a slower-growing plant as it may cause autism or some other story that they start to spread around.
- jazzyjackson 8y ago
  The breeding of a bigger, rounder, more beautiful tomato has absolutely come at the cost of nutrition. See https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/26/opinion/sunday/breeding-the-nutrition-out-of-our-food.html https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/26/opinion/sunday/breeding-t... "Breeding the Nutrition Out of Our Food" ". The loss of these beneficial nutrients did not begin 50 or 100 years ago, as many assume. Unwittingly, we have been stripping phytonutrients from our diet since we stopped foraging for wild plants some 10,000 years ago and became farmers." The rising CO2 doesn't help tho.

ams6110 8y ago

That's really not true. Imperfect food is generally not sent to the supermarket. Imperfect apples become applesauce. Imperfect cucumbers become relish or pickle slices. Imperfect tomatoes become ketchup.

sekasi 8y ago
While you're not incorrect, there's a whole slew of the 'on the fence' produce that DOES get sent to supermarkets, and then don't get sold. There's been a few documentaries about it, well worth a watch.

fraudsyndrome 8y ago

Yep, I know someone that ran a company stocking vegetables/fruits for one of the top supermarket chains here - they were the middlepeople who packed the pallets. It's a very hard working/high demand place, it wouldn't be uncommon for the boss to have a 16 hour day every so often. Meth runs rampant for people to stay awake, people take a piss in the corner of the factory and have a smoke while packing. Anything that has a cut or bruise gets thrown in the trash, not sent to another place to get processed, not composted, just thrown in the trash. Any staff can take home stuff at the end of the day that doesn't get thrown out, this would be enough veggies/fruits for 1-2 weeks for them.. just from a single day.