Ugly Potatoes Need Love Too
A french fry by any other name would taste as sweet...
There’s a pretty common refrain in North America, “If you had to see where your food came from, you wouldn’t want to eat it.” It’s a saying always used for animal products. And I think most vegans would agree that’s part of why they don’t eat meat. If we’re being entirely honest though, it’s part of the whole sterilisation of supermarkets. We show up to perfectly lined up shelves, with shiny produce in neat pyramids and rows and rows of products we never really think about.
But maybe we should.
Did you know the Lower Mainland produces 70% of the berries, vegetables, mushrooms, floriculture, and nursery products in BC? For the last half a century BC governments have been supporting the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) to slow the loss of 6000 hectares of farmland that were being lost each year. They are farms that exist alongside cities, many you probably drive by on a regular basis. We are very fortunate that it is possible to interact directly with the people that are growing our food.
So… let me introduce you to Heppell’s! Or rather, you can introduce yourself to “Potato Ty” this Saturday August 27th at their 4th Ugly Potato Day of the summer. These are potatoes that aren’t suitable for grocery stores, not because they’re not tasty, or have gone bad. But simply because they’re not uniform looking. They are… “ugly”. From 9am to noon at 4945 184th Street in Surrey you can pick up some of the perfectly delicious potatoes Heppell's has been growing for over 100 years.
The potatoes are available to anyone who needs them. If you can afford to make a donation (usually $3) they are hoping to raise $3000 for charity. However, part of the reason Heppell’s does ugly potato day is to make sure anyone who can’t afford food can still access it, so if you are unable to donate there are no questions asked.
While you’re at it consider signing the petition for the land Heppell’s sits on that is federally owned and not in the ALR. The 300 acre property that includes the farm, streams, and forest is at risk of being sold to developers. Between May & July each year that parcel of land produces up to 50% of BC’s local potatoes, carrots, and cabbage. It’s unique situation allows it to produce in this early season, out-producing any other piece of land in the province. It creates 30-50 million servings of fresh vegetables each year.
In Canada rejected produce is estimated to be responsible for 10% of the $31 billion of food wasted each year. This is the same country who announced a 5-7% increase on vegetable prices in 2022 per Canada’s Food Price Report out of Dalhousie University. And this is all before the produce gets to our homes, where 2.2 million tonnes of food is wasted each year, 30% of it vegetables.
We are very fortunate to live in a country able to produce a huge variety of food. It can be easy when you live in a place so large to forget that not everyone has that same luxury. With climate growing more unstable we’ve seen mass devastation in the past few years from floods, fires, heat, and cold. An increasing population will make preserving land in the ALR even more crucial going forward. We can do so much better, and we must.
It might seem like one person can’t make a difference. We didn’t write the regulations for how food should look in a grocery store. We can’t control the food waste at restaurants, or in other peoples homes. We aren’t writing the laws that protect farmland. What can one person do?
It’s simple…
Support your local farms.
Buy what you need and use what you buy.
And if you ever get the chance… eat the ugly potatoes.
That’s all for this week! Tag me in all your ugly vegetable stories on Instagram or TikTok.