I took this course – Food Systems Interventions and Remediations. We focused on the state of the world’s food system. Tasked with creating a project that can be used to address or solve an issue in the food system for our final, I jumped at the opportunity to join the Ugly Food Movement.
Ugly Food is misshapen or slightly bruised fruits and veggies. They usually get tossed, which results in enormous amounts of waste.
To curb this practice, the Ugly Food Movement was developed to highlight the nutritious and affordable allure of less-than-perfect-looking fruits and vegetables. We assign human qualities to food (the right shape, the right size, the right look) and not realizing the downfall of such behavior.
Eat Ugly creates awareness of the ugly food epidemic. By informing folks in my immediate circle and community I aim to create a ripple effect. If people are aware and if they care – they can change their behaviors toward food waste, specifically where Ugly Food is concerned.
Delivery/Platforms
I created material that I share with folks. It highlights the issue and aims to inform.
- I created a short stop-motion animation video that stars ugly food I sourced from the farmers market and from the trash of my neighborhood food coop.
- Secondly, I created a quiz that test’s knowledge of the issue.
- I made Eat Ugly branded t-shirts.
T-SHIRTS
The shirts made everyone wearing them brand ambassadors. People stop me to ask what EAT UGLY means. Others who wear the shirt have similar interactions with folks. The shirt allowed us to engage in conversations that either presented new information to the listener giving them the tools to make informed decisions about their contribution to food waste. Or, encouraged more people to join the movement. The demand for shirts outweighed the supply. I need more shirts!
QUIZ
As part of my contribution to the campaign, I created a quiz to inform and test knowledge of ugly foods. This interactive quiz was created using the Eko platform. This was an individual project for my Storytelling with Non-Linear Video course.
The content was produced using stop motion animation, video production, javascript and css. The stars of the animations are none other than ugly foods acquired from my neighborhood coop (these were destined for the compost) and purchased from farmers markets.
Take the quiz! Test your knowledge about food waste in America?