Perfectly Ugly (are we really this vain?)
Our truck veered off the road around 4:30 PM on a sunny Friday afternoon. The feeling of dirt under wheel is a familiar and welcome memory and I remember simply feeling good about being back in the country.
We had pulled over to visit a small farmers stand. It was our third stop for food – I was being picky and had refused to buy anything from the first two stops (which turned out to be resellers – basically grocery stores in disguise). I was looking to buy direct from the person who grew it and I was willing to wait. I should have been able to figure out that the first two were reselling – they had massive selections and this small stand had about 4 things. I am still learning that when things are this fresh that I don’t need 30 options. 4 items are plenty when each has been pulled from the field that day.
I knew we were on the right track as I passed two gentlemen standing to the side who were talking about tomato blight and the fact that it was everywhere this year.
We were greeted by an older Scottish woman. She was very sweet and took pride in her offerings and we knew we had found what we were looking for. She had corn, tomatoes, onions and a few other veggies. The tomatoes were being offered by the half dozen – too many for 2 days of camping and only Dana and I.
“Can we buy only 2 or 3? I don’t want to waste any.”
She looked sad at first – and then her face lit up. She wandered away for a moment and came back with 3 field tomatoes that were as big as any I’ve seen.
“All of these have blemishes – I’m sorry but it’s all I’ve got other than the ones in the basket. My husband wanted to throw them out because no one will buy tomatoes like these.” I committed to 3. Our grand total for tomatoes was $1 (we spent an additional $2.50 on a red onion and 6 corn).
They were some of the best we’ve had this year.
I couldn’t believe that people would skip over tomatoes like the one above. I have done some reading on message boards since and it does appear that many would see a blemish as a fatal flaw in the selection process. Not necessarily a bad thing, but a surprise to me – perhaps one mans treasure is another mans garbage after all!
If all tomatoes looked perfect, there would likely be a price to pay – waste, potential taste and other trade-offs. Are we really this picky? Do we really insist on “perfection?” Do we really want beauty over substance? (OK, I’ll admit the last is a little melodramatic 
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