Tres Bon, Intermarche!

     On Tuesday Karolyn Coorsh of CTV News reported that a French supermarket was receiving international attention from an anti-waste campaign that they had recently launched.  Grocery franchise Intermarche was marketing and selling "ugly" fruits and vegetables that were destined for the trash dumpster rather than the dinner table.





     The clever "Inglorious Fruits and Vegetables" campaign set as its goal to "celebrate the beauty" of malformed or misshapen produce which included things like the "Grotesque Apple," the "Disfigured Eggplant," and the "Unfortunate Clementine."  The clever initiative has a serious message:  To reduce food waste.  It is estimated that 300 million tons of produce a year are thrown out.  Too often the visually unappealing produce is tossed out by the growers, despite being just as edible and healthy as their smooth and shiny counterparts.

     To combat food waste, Intermarche bought from their growers the products that are typically disposed of, cleared entire aisles in stores to make room for them, and marketed the "ugly" produce with special signage and labels.  And as a further incentive, they are selling  the imperfect fruits and veggies at a 30% discount.  Their You Tube video explaining their program even went viral.

     Intermarche noted that during the first two days of the campaign, each of their stores sold on average 1.2 tons of the malformed produce and stores saw a 24% overall traffic increase.  

     French foodies appear to be receptive.  Let's hope it catches on in the good old U.S. of A!