French Supermarket Sells Ugly Fail Vegetables to Combat Food Waste

As anyone who’s ever claimed to love artisan foods can attest to, “ugly” doesn’t necessarily mean “bad.” From sloppy carne asada fries to frill-free cups of coffee, sometimes the best foods aren’t exactly the most #foodporn worthy. Just take it from French supermarket chain Intermarché.

In Europe, a reported 300 million tons of ugly fruits and vegetables get tossed by distributors each year. So in honor of the EU’s designating 2014 as the European Year Against Food Waste, Intermarché launched a clever print, radio, and video campaign to sell these fail pieces of produce in stores.

Starring a Grotesque Apple, Disfigured Eggplant, Ridiculous Potato, Failed Lemon and more, the Inglorious campaign asked growers for their deformed harvest and sold them for 30% cheaper than their more airbrushed brethren. To convince shoppers the ugly produce tasted just as good, Intermarché even offered soups and juices made exclusively from the misshapen goods, which resulted in 1.2 tons average sale per store in the first two days, says the promotional video, below:

Moral of the story? Never judge a tuber by its growths.

H/T + PicThx Design Taxi