Gross!
Same Principle of Ugly Fruit Found to Apply to Ugly Beef, Ugly Cows, Ugly Rancher, His Ugly Women and Children
Frankly, this is a difficult topic to broach for me. I went into a Sephora the other day when I uncomfortably realized, perhaps too late, that everyone was hotter than me.
Next time somebody asks me what superpower I could have if I could have one, I won’t say I want to be a firebender. Instead, even better—I’ll say I would like to be hot. Flamin’ hot.
Now, this can be reasonably explained.
The heightened visual or physical appeal of items (and people) increasingly equates to positive consumer responses. iPhones are agreeably attractive. Now Apple is the world’s most valuable tech company, “bumping” AT&T off the DOW index. Bumping? More like demolition, if you ask me.
Attractive hires are able to rake in roughly 10% more than their average counterparts. The freshman stealthily picks the textbook under the top one because it is newer and is less stinky. And my mom spends five minutes picking a cucumber since she always wants the longest, thickest, and shiniest one possible.
In fact, that last example is exceedingly relevant to a very modern issue. Not penis envy. Nor is the issue “lookism” or what is dubbed body fascism; the celebrity of physical attractiveness, a topic that has received no shortage of scholarly attention in socio-cultural studies.
The issue is, that while millions worldwide are struggling to have enough to eat for nourishment, more than millions of tons of food goes in the trash.
Locally enough, 60 million metric tons of food is wasted a year in the United States, at an estimated value of $162 billion.
The Waste and Resources Action Program based in Britain estimates in a recent report that worldwide, a third of all food produced is never consumed, and that food waste racks up to almost $400 billion a year.
I recently bought a few bananas that looked bruised, and as they rapidly got browner and mushier, I felt guilty because I felt ashamed to eat the bananas in front of other people. What if they thought I was eating something diseased? So I broke off the huge, tumorous, infected, mushy chunks — tossed those, and only ate what I thought was the safest part. I rationally understood that it was completely safe to consume the complete banana, but some weird instincts told me otherwise. And therefore, I am the target market of the ugly fruit movement, which I want to see more of in Calgary.
Reflex reactions to chuck foods that appear off without prior knowledge of the storage and care for individual foods is problematic, and also a highly widespread behaviour in almost everyone.
Embarrassingly enough, the food waste generated by consumers and large retailers alike could be more than enough to feed the world’s 870 million hungry people, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
The statistics behind your fridge rot get even more impressive. By 2030, food waste could grow to be a $600 billion “industry”! It causes climate change too, the vast quantities of food produced to be purchased by consumers uses vast quantities of water, fertilizer and land. Furthermore, the food waste is thrown away in landfills, costing municipal governments upwards of hundreds of millions, and emits potent greenhouse gases that total a rising 7% of total emissions.
The Food Waste Reduction Alliance is asking supermarket chains to clarify expiration dates, and entrepreneurs are lighting upon opportunities to solve the problem, but as of now, the nail hasn't even been put down to scratch the surface of this critical economic and environmental issue. As we watch it gain attention and we catch ourselves making judgments about that unpleasing vegetable with the crud on its leaves, we also can and should make a difference with immediate actionable changes in our lives, like this one:
Eating your food.
