Come on supermarkets - wonky is the shape of fruit and veg to come

Efforts to stock 'imperfect' and 'misshapen' vegetables are picking up, but too slowly. Why are we still fuss-potting about aesthetics while thousands of people trudge to local food banks?

What pathetic supermarkets we have. Their efforts to sell imperfect fruit and veg are pretty weedy. All right, Morrisons is having a trial in the north-east, Asda's selling them in 25 stores, Waitrose tried an 'ugly' range for jam-making and, surprise, surprise, now that the bulk of the population is skint or will be bankrupt by Christmas, we are buying them because they're cheaper.

But why so tentative? Why not just sell them in all stores everywhere all the time? They don't taste any different. Go on, supermarkets. Stop mimsying about and making farmers waste a squillion tons of fresh food (20 tons of vegetables in one week from one farm, up to 40% of farmers' crops thrown away). Stuff a few wibbly or spotty ones into the bagged veg/fruit, and sell loose, "imperfect" ones cheaper, and if the public doesn't like it, tough. But it does. Even supermarkets' trials have proved it, and, while carrying out research I have not found a single person who gives a toss about the shape of their carrots. An amusing carrot can even perk up dreary peeling and preparing. A blemish can be removed.

Remember those EU directives back in the 80s about the permitted degree of banana and cucumber curvature? They were a gift to the anti-EU brigade. Is that when all this stupidity started? The rules were relaxed a bit int the 2008 recession. But we're still fuss-potting about perfect looks and shapes, while thousands of people trudge to food banks. How ridiculous is all this? "Half the world has barely enough to eat, whatever shape, "says Fielding correctly. And here we are whingeing about the difficulty of peeling a two-pronged parsnip. No wonder poor Huge Fearnley-Whittingstall now has short hair. If it was still long and wispy-wavy, he'd be tearing it out. After his years of tremendous efforts to make supermarkets stock wonky vegetables they are moving at half-dead snail's pace. We must try to hurry things up. Eat less meat, eat more wonky fruit and veg. Help the world last a little longer.