anarchist parsnip wins right to self-expression

The European Union’s Agriculture Commissioner has finally repealed Common Agricultural Policy standardization requirements for 26 fruits and vegetables, opening grocery shelves to free-spirited carrots and nonconformist cucumbers. The rationale behind the regulations in the first place was that existing trading standards across all the member countries had to be brought in line with each other when the EU was first formed. In retrospect it seems clear that the price has been a shocking level of food waste, and space-maximizing convenience for the shippers and supermarkets at the expense of choice and education for consumers.

The Agriculture Commissioner, Mariann Fischer Boel, says on her own blog “It makes no sense to throw perfectly good products away, just because they are the ‘wrong’ shape.” Ms Boel is a farmer herself and makes it clear that taste comes first, especially in the face of soaring food costs. I can only assume that this shift will also clear another obstacle for small, less mechanized farms and organic farmers who have had to watch their knobbly veg be discarded or sold for “processing” at a lower price.

Of course, the USDA has its own fantastic reams of rules and regulations, including a 14 page pdf (downloadable, for a little light reading) on the appropriate curvature for American Greenhouse Cucumbers and instant outlaw status for our wee friend on the right in the photo up there. But worms are turning, heirloom tomatoes are leading the charge, and we’ll see what our shiny new President-Elect has to say about all this. I wonder if he’s heard Michael Pollan’s clarion call for common sense (see below)?

In the meantime, in the interests of all our sanity, and of maintaining our appreciation of the wonky, go and visit Uli Westphal’s gallery of beauties, all rescued from the scarlet letter shame of being “non-standard” and transformed into luscious glowing pin-ups.