Rhi Willmot, a PhD Researcher in Behavioural and Positive Psychology at Bangor University poses the question as to whether the same rules that govern human attraction also apply to our choices of fruit and vegetables. According to Willmot, plenty of evidence suggests we do look for similar traits in both people and produce, and our perceptions of food are clearly affected by what it looks like.
Each year around 1.3 billion tonnes of food is wasted worldwide, a third of the total produced. This unbelievable figure is partly made up of “ugly” fruit and vegetables – those that are perfectly edible but rejected by supermarkets due to their blemished skin or unusual shape.
In March 2015, Rhi Willmot opened a pop-up Ugly Food Shop in a mission to change perceptions of ugly food. She sought to discover why it was ever rejected in the first place, and whether supermarkets either dictated or answered to a desire for perfect veg.
Since then, ugly foods seem to be making a comeback. A flurry of excitement accompanied the launch of British supermarket Asda’s “wonky veg box” which, for just £3.50 (US$5), promises to feed a family of four for a week. As a result, Willmot questions whether consumers have always cared about the shapeliness of their bananas, or are they only now becoming more receptive to the idea of bendy vegetables?
