1/4 Ivar van Dorst with his pumpkins. (photo: Raoul Cartens).
4,500 kilos of red-orange pumpkins are waiting in large crates in Etten-Leur for a buyer. Organic gardener Ivar van Dorst would like to sell them, but because they do not have the perfect shape, that is not possible. “This one is too big, this one is too small and this one doesn’t have a perfectly round shape. They all taste the same, but customers only want to buy perfectly shaped pumpkins,” says Ivar.
“The demands of consumers are becoming increasingly strict, who actually only want a standard size. Just large enough for the soup pot for one family. So no half or two pans. So the pumpkins that are too large or too small remain in the store shelves. And that’s why the retailers don’t want to buy them from me anymore.”
Originally, the mountain of ‘less perfect pumpkins’ was almost 8,000 kilos. This is about a third of the total harvest. But 3,500 kilos of this has now been sold to the Breda organization No Waste Army, which fights against food waste. Those pumpkins go to vegetable processor HAK. “Just like with people, pumpkins come in all kinds of sizes. But the consumer only wants the ideal size pumpkin,” says Ivar.
“People still go for the perfect picture.”
No Waste Army wants the ‘bruises’ among the vegetables to end up properly. “People go for the perfect picture. That’s why you only see straight cucumbers in the supermarket and a banana has to be crooked. But we also like to make something tasty from these vegetables. Because throwing them away is a shame,” says Mirte Goossen of No. Waste Army.
“Taking it to the market myself costs me more in transport costs than what they yield.”
But in the meantime, Ivar still has the remains of 4,500 kilos of imperfectly grown pumpkins in his stomach. He doesn’t want to give it away or pass it on, because the grower also has to earn a living from it. “And taking it to the market myself costs me more in transport costs than what they yield. But I have good hope that it will work out.”
People who are satisfied with a pumpkin that has a different shape can visit the store every Saturday morning – for one euro per kilo Ivar’s farmat Hoge Bremberg 18 in Etten-Leur.