There’s a subconscious ritual I engage in during my weekly trip to the farmers market or grocery store: I sift through the fruits and vegetables on display, searching for bruises, worm holes, or other visible blemishes. I can’t help but hunt for the roundest, most evenly colored apple and the straightest carrots—it’s how my parents taught me to shop. And finding the most perfect produce isn’t all that difficult, because the gnarled, twisted alternative often ends up in the garbage instead of making it to the market.

(Photo: UglyFruitAndVeg/Twitter)

That’s where a new anti–food waste campaign from Loblaws, Canada’s largest grocery store chain, comes in. The effort, dubbed “No Name Naturally Imperfect,” gives shoppers a financial incentive to purchase smaller or deformed-looking fruits and veggies: They’ll be 30 cents cheaper than their prettier peers.

The campaign is similar to one run last year by French supermarket chain Intermarché. Since 2014 was the European Year Against Food Waste, the Gallic grocer began selling “ugly” produce at a discounted price. In order to entice customers to buy the deformed items, Intermarché offered juiced fruits to shoppers, proving that ugly doesn’t mean gross.

"Sweet" sweet potatoes. (Photo: UglyFruitAndVeg/Twitter)

“We often focus too much on the look of the produce rather than the taste,” Ian Gordon, senior vice president of Loblaw Brands, said in a statement announcing this latest initiative. “Once you peel or cut an apple, you can’t tell it once had a blemish or was misshapen.”

According to Loblaw Brands, much of the ugly produce that it purchases was previously being turned into juices or sauces, or might have been left in fields to die. According to the National Resources Defense Council, 40 percent of all food produced in the United States goes uneaten. Farmers know they can’t sell unattractive-looking crops to grocers, or, due to price fluctuations, they decide it’s more profitable to throw it in a landfill. And even after we get the most unblemished carrot or apple home, we end up tossing nearly half of our food. Meanwhile, food insecurity affects 50 million Americans.

Loblaw plans to roll out its sales of unattractive produce gradually. It’s starting with its stores in the provinces of Ontario and Québec, and only apples and potatoes will be offered at first—after all, given how trained we are to look for the loveliest fruits and veggies, our food-waste habit might take a little time to break.