Why You Should Eat Ugly Fruit

In January 2013, several hundred officials in Kenya sat down to dine on a very particular type of food: “ugly” produce. The five-course meal was made with 3,500 pounds of Kenyan-grown fruit and vegetables that had been rejected by British supermarkets due to cosmetic flaws.

Those rejected items are part of the more than 1 billion tons of food that go to waste around the world each year. In developing countries, most of that loss stems from lack of infrastructure, storage and refrigeration; in North America and many industrialized countries, a huge portion is thrown away despite being perfectly good to eat.

The dinner in Nairobi was held to mark the launch of a global initiative designed to help consumers and retailers save food and cut costs for themselves, producers and the environment.

So help ripen a new standard of beauty by purchasing and eating homely produce. Search out or create a recipe to turn them into something that tastes great.

Take these small steps to reduce food waste