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Comment by TeMPOraL | Hacker News Reader

Good. That means they're reducing food waste.

A big problem with the food market is that people shop with their eyes, which leads to stupid amount of waste on fruit&vegetables section, as people prefer to go to another store than to buy veggies that look anything less than perfect.

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In a lot of cases, that's how it works in nature too though. Visual appeal on the tree/bush is a big part of what attracts an animal to a fruit. It's just how we're built.

Right, but animals aren't as picky as humans - they'll eat anything that isn't rotten (and then some animals actually prefer rotten stuff). Meanwhile people will avoid buying veggies that look off even if there's no risk to health or taste involved.

I suppose this is because most animals in the wild are always couple hours away from starvation and just can't afford being picky eaters.

I think we've had the luxury of training ourselves to only identify the best looking produce as safe/tasty. I doubt it's ingrained in our nature, which is to say, if you're raised in a situation where you can't be as selective, I suspect you'll see a lot more produce as perfectly fine.

We definitely don't (generally) turn our noses up at various forms of rotten milk or the liquids of fruits rotten enough to be alcoholic.

Yeah elks love to get drunk on rotten apples. Humans prefer rotten grapes.

Some humans prefer rotten apples.

it isn't as if the grocer gives us a discount for the "worse looking" produce. so why would anyone prefer it?

I find dangerous red berries and colored frogs very attractive.

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