‘A child can teach an adult three things: To be happy for no reason, to always be curious and to fight tirelessly for something’- Paulo Coelho.
I often say to people that if they ever wanted to experience the good, the unique and the magic, they need to see the world through the eyes of a child. In my case, my 9 year old boys.
I experience it every so often, the recent one during a school run.

Already running late for pickup on a day when my littlest had the Athletics carnival in the morning (something he does not enjoy and I couldn’t attend), I knew I was in for trouble. As I approached the turning circle, which is the pickup point, I could see him sitting by himself looking a bit sad. Normally he would be the one to jump and wave and blow kisses at the sight of my car.

‘How was your day?’ I started with the usual, knowing what was about to come.
‘Bad!’ is all I got. His brother was busy munching on the muffins I had given them.
‘What happened?’
‘I came 42^nd  in the race!’ he blurted out.
‘How many ran? I inquired.
‘56!’
‘Well, that’s not too bad’ I remarked trying my best to cheer him up.
‘It is bad. Because I eat too much sushi, my tummy plops out and I can’t run fast. Timmy told me.’
‘Well, that can’t be true. And no one is perfect.’ I went on, finding it hilarious and not knowing how to respond.
‘Timmy is! He is fit and strong and I am not!’
‘You are strong and amazing. You can’t be perfect all the time. And you know what, it’s what’s on the inside that counts.’ I could see that he was beginning to relax.
‘So am I like the Imperfect pear that does not look perfect from outside but just does its thing?’ The simple yet insightful comparison made me smile.

As huge advocates of the imperfect picks (odd shaped fruits and vegetables) campaign at Harris Farm Markets which are a large chain selling fruits and vegetables among other things and constantly educating my kids on food wastage, I felt like it was a like a little pat on my back.

‘Can we make pie?’ inquired my little man.
‘Of course we can’. I realized it wasn’t too late for me to take a detour to our local West Pennant Hills Harris Farm. And any excuse to see, touch, smell, cook or photograph fresh produce is always a wonderful thing, isn’t it?

I already knew what he was going to fill his basket with. We headed to our favourite Imperfect Picks aisle and chose pears, apples, pomegranates, eggplants and limes.

So what are Imperfect Picks/Ugly Produce?
These are nothing but odd shaped fruits and vegetables. Do not get me wrong. These are neither bruised, over-ripe nor inedible. They are just as nutritious and taste the same as standard produce, just that they may just look a little different.

While a lot gets spoken about fighting food wastage, what people are unaware of is that really good food is wasted even before it reaches our homes. One of the main reasons for that is the ‘appearance standard’ that fresh produce is expected to meet in terms of shape, size, colour before it can be sold in shops. Supermarkets and retailers have these standards because they know that if produce does not look a certain way, we won’t buy them. In other words, our love for the perfectly shaped, unblemished produce is actually causing wholesome, nutritious food to go to the landfill.

How does it affect us?
This problem affects farmers all over Australia. It is estimated that 20-40% of all fruits and vegetables are rejected from sale due to appearance quality standards.
Wasting food means wasting the resources that went into producing it: the water, labour, chemicals and soil fertility.
Food waste also means massive carbon emissions. It means climate changing effects from the methane emitted by rotting food.

How can we help?
Simple, if we were to purchase more imperfect produce, supermarkets, retailers and local greengrocers might begin to accept fruits and vegetables that are not perfect.  All it takes is a shift in perception and more awareness regarding the problem. Don’t you think it is absurd that nutritious produce is being thrown away solely for cosmetic reasons?
Initiate conversations with your local greengrocer, if they are not doing it already. Even if it means a short drive to markets like Harris Farm Markets to stock up on your weekly imperfect produce, it is still worthwhile. Remember this produce is cheaper.
Educate people around you. Taking kids along to the greengrocers’ and involving them in the kitchen is an important step in raising a smarter generation.
Each time you purchase an Imperfect fruit or vegetable, you are not only helping the farmers but reducing food wastage while saving on your grocery bill.

Back to our pie making session or pie therapy as I like to call it. If you haven’t tried pie therapy yet, I urge you to give it a go, especially with children. All you need is a bag of Imperfect produce (pears, apples, plums….the list is endless), some short crust pastry and cookie cutters/stamps. It won’t be long before the kitchen table is filled with a few little masterpieces. As you can see, ours ended up in a Spring garden of daisies and pansies. A not-so happy day that easily turned into fits of laughter and some delicious messes in the kitchen. We enjoyed the warm pie with scoops of vanilla ice cream while the ruby-like pomegranate seeds were served over waffles.

Two days later, I was walking up the stairs to the school office when I ran into Millie, a classmate’s Mum. Preoccupied with my thoughts I barely saw her whilst she came running and hugged me. “ Sonali, what a gorgeous boy Aryan is. James (her son) said to me, how he was the only one to stop and help him when he had a fall during the race.’

I was taken aback! My eyes welled up. “Why didn’t he tell me?’

My perfectly imperfect pie. Just doing his thing.
It’s what’s on the inside that counts!

Spiced Pear Pie
Makes an 8 inch round pie

2 sheets ready rolled shortcrust pastry
5-6 pears, peeled, cored and roughly chopped
1 tsp lemon juice
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tbsps cornstarch
1 tsp powdered cinnamon
1 egg lightly beaten
Raw sugar, to sprinkle 

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Line an 8 inch tart/pie pan with a sheet of shortcrust pastry. Trim edges. Place a sheet of baking paper on top and cover with baking beads and bake in the oven for 15 mins. 
Meanwhile, make the filling. In a medium bowl, place pears, lemon juice, brown sugar cornstarch and cinnamon. Toss to combine. Leave aside until needed.
Remove pie base from oven and allow to cool. Pour the pear filling and spread evenly with the back of a spoon. With the remaining short crust pastry, cut out flowers or any shape you desire and decorate your pie. Brush with egg, Sprinkle with raw sugar.
Bake in the oven at 180 degrees C for 12-15 mins or until pastry is golden. Enjoy warm with ice cream.

Disclaimer : This post is my entry into the Sydney Fresh Awards. I’m a regular shopper at the Harris Farm Markets and have not been compensated in any way for this post. All opinions expressed here are entirely my own.