# Buying "ugly" produce--good or bad? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 26, 2018, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-ugly-produce-good-or-bad/825134 "2018-11-26T22:47:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-ugly-produce-good-or-bad/825134/21 "2019-01-14T21:26:49Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > I highly recommend buying ugli fruit (grapefruit’s delicious mutant cousin). > > Not really what this thread is about, but I really do not want ugli fruit to disappear from the stores the way tamarillos did. It has disappeared. It’s now called “uniq fruit.” ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2019, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-ugly-produce-good-or-bad/825134/22 "2019-01-15T16:35:42Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > I get weekly deliveries from [Imperfect Produce](https://www.imperfectproduce.com). I’m very satisfied. To my eyes there’s nothing wrong with any of it. Most of the time not even blemished. I don’t have any deep-seated philosophical reasons. I was doing CSA, but I never knew what I was going to get in the box, so I couldn’t plan. With IP, I can choose what I get. And I love that they deliver. TIL: CSA. Wikipedia CSA disambigu page… hmm… _Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel_? No… Crime Syndicate of America? No… Camphorsulfonic acid? No… Ah, way down at the bottom, **Community-supported agriculture**! That must be it. Found this [map](https://www.localharvest.org/csa/) of CSA and thinking of signing up. ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2019, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-ugly-produce-good-or-bad/825134/23 "2019-01-15T17:38:41Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > TIL: CSA. > > Wikipedia CSA disambigu page… hmm… _Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel_? No… Crime Syndicate of America? No… Camphorsulfonic acid? No… Ah, way down at the bottom, **Community-supported agriculture**! That must be it. > > Found this [map](https://www.localharvest.org/csa/) of CSA and thinking of signing up. Confederate States of America! I’m not buying my produce from traitors. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-ugly-produce-good-or-bad/825134/24 "2019-08-08T17:53:42Z")
Bumping because we’re strongly considering ordering from Imperfect Produce. Wondering if anyone else has opinions? I’m all about reducing food waste, and it seems there is a small controversy as to how much they actually do. But, I’m also about getting produce delivered to me and having one less pile of stuff in the cart on grocery runs. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-ugly-produce-good-or-bad/825134/25 "2019-08-08T18:02:43Z")
At our local grocery, they have a ugly fruit section, and stuff there not bought (1$ a bag) is tossed. Some of the “imperfect” veggies does get donated, much gets mulched. So, you are likely doing good by buying. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-ugly-produce-good-or-bad/825134/26 "2019-08-08T18:35:37Z")
I read an article a while back (don’t recall exactly where- maybe The Atlantic?) that in general, the food industry is VERY good at making use of imperfect produce. For example, pretty tomatoes go to supermarket shelves or other places where their looks are important, while the ugly/misshapen ones end up being used for processed tomato products of various sorts. Same thing for apples- the pretty ones go to stores, while the ugly ones go into applesauce and pie filling. And that in a lot of cases, lower-income supermarkets have less-perfect produce anyway- smaller, etc… than the upscale ones. The article went on to speculate that these imperfect produce services are just disrupting that process, without really accomplishing anything, and that they’re basically marketing their wares with a false notion- that buying from them reduces waste, etc… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-ugly-produce-good-or-bad/825134.md?page=1)