A friend recently referred me to a website, ImperfectProduce.com, where you can sign up to receive a weekly box of “ugly produce” – bruised fruits and vegetables that weren’t considered pristine enough to make it onto the shelves of a regular supermarket, but which can be bought for 30-50% less than regular produce. Apparently, the company has been around since 2015, but this is the first I’d heard of it. (I am not an affiliate of the company and I don’t have any other relationship with them, other than the fact that I think it’s a neat idea.)

I eagerly went to the site and typed in my zip code, only to find out that they only deliver within the Seattle city limits, not yet to Bellevue. (Their website said they’d start delivering to Bellevue “in Fall 2017”; they’ve got a month and a half to hit that deadline, but most businesses miss those launch dates by a few months, so I’m guessing early spring.)

This is something I'd wanted to try for a while, but if ImperfectProduce launches in Bellevue on schedule, it will be the first time a service like this has ever been available in my area. This article from 2015 lists other businesses that sell bruised produce, either as their main business or as a side project, but most of them are local projects that haven't yet attempted to go national. Daily Table services only Dorchester, Massachusetts.

Raley's once partnered with ImperfectProduce to sell the deformed fruits and vegetables in their California grocery stores, but the partnership was later discontinued. Clear Creek Distillery and Maison Publique use discarded produce to make spirits and restaurant-quality food, but they don't sell the discounted produce to the public. But ImperfectProduce seems poised to stick around -- the idea worked well enough for them in a local trial that they're expanding into new markets, and they've made it their primary focus rather than a novelty.

The idea of reclaiming “ugly” produce could scale up quite a bit – researchers say about 40% of produce gets thrown out because it isn’t picturesque enough to be displayed on supermarket shelves. Would Americans adopt the trend of rescuing bruised produce from the trash, at a discount? My guess is that if ImperfectProduce lasts, the idea will catch on and some competitors will spring up as well.

Americans love shiny appearances, but we like saving money too. Nobody ever Instagrams the apple that they grabbed from the kitchen counter anyway, so it might as well have some blotches on it if that knocks half the price off.