The thread on competition leeks and the picture of the winning entry on the gallery board got me thinking. Tim made a very valid point that these are pot grown leeks and he eats his leeks much smaller, presumably for taste and texture reasons.
I my self love it when my produce looks good, straight carrots/parsnips, nice round/smooth spuds, tight button sprouts, straight beans, slim/straight courgettes etc. But I am perfectly happy to grow things and have them not looking perfect. This might mean they require a little bit more effort to wash/peel/prepare but I still know they will taste as good as the good looking ones I grow.
This though is where the supermarkets and commercial growers have gone wrong in opinion. (For information I am no fan of the supermarkets, I come from a farming back ground and my father still owns/runs a commercial farm in Devon growing some veg, corn and lamb. The way the supermarkets treat the growers is a disgrace, but enough of that rant!). Whether they have been driven by the buying public or not, they insist upon neat rows or produce the same shape and size that will sit on the shelves for days and days. Taste is a secondary or tertiary consideration if one at all.
I am probably talking to the converted here as I guess we have made a decision to grow our own based on various criteria or set of criteria such as cost, organic, taste, choice, control, interest, challenge, etc. As a group I suspect we do not expect or indeed want show quality or supermarket uniformity fruit and vegetable. I often think that one element missing from vegetable shows is how things cook and taste. I know this is not really practical in the real world though. After all how could you show a good roasting spud such as British Queen with a nice hot example of a roasted spud along side!!!!!
I guess what I am saying is looks are not everything, knowing what it is I am eating and how it was grown and how it tastes are key for me. But I still immensely enjoyed showing off good examples of my work in the recent show on this forum too!
Bit of a ramble but I hope you can see what I am getting at!
Jerry
