Via Mick Hartley, a collection of misshapen fruit and vegetables from Berlin farmers’ markets, photographed by Uli Westphal. Westphal describes his Mutatoes project as “documenting these last survivors of biological variety.” The peppers in particular are rather stunning; though I’m not sure I’d be quite so thrilled to eat them.
More.
Well, you might as well anyway.
Odd thought but…
Does anyone know whether it would be safe to eat cancerous tissue? Say a cow with cancer?
In the future “beef” could be grown in a vat from cow stem cells, so it might be best to check.
I doubt if these are ‘last survivors of biological variety’. Peripheral versions of ‘the norm’ will always emerge. There’s no way we can, or should, prevent diversity.
They usually aren’t shipped to market but are used locally. Or, shipped to factories for processing, ie, canned or salads or whatever.
I did raise an eyebrow at the (obligatory) political intimations of Mr Westphal’s art project. Bizarre peppers and novelty carrots can be fun, even beautiful, but they can also be a bugger to sell, store, peel, cook, etc. And their novelty chic arises from… well, their novelty – the fact they aren’t particularly commonplace. If supermarket shelves were always heaving with knotty, misshapen produce, I doubt they’d have the same aesthetic appeal.