Bottom Feeding

I call my purchasing strategy "bottom feeding," after those resourceful sea creatures that live on whatever filters down to the ocean floor. Like them, I try to make use of foods that a more wasteful group of consumers treat as surplus. I let the farmers at the markets where I vend know that I'll be happy to buy items that they have left over at the end of the day, perfectly good produce that would otherwise end up on the compost pile because there's a new batch ready to be harvested. I name the price, and I'll take just about anything they're willing to sell to me at that price.

It can be tricky to approach people to propose this type of arrangement. It's especially important to let them know that I know that their produce is worth more than I'm willing to pay. But even though I'm not willing to pay much, I try to do everything I can to make it worth their while. I've bought cases of greens even when I'm not sure how I'm going to fit them in my cooler, and I'm often willing to take a risk on oddball stuff, like the time I came back from a market with 3 cases of purple cauliflower.

I had one farmer tell me that he's selling more at the markets because of this arrangement. He used to think in terms of trying to sell out, so nothing would be wasted. As a result his table would look empty during the last hour, and he wouldn't sell much. Now he keeps his table fully stocked for the duration of the market, customers buy more because it looks better, and he sells the leftovers to me.

It takes faith to be a bottom feeder. You have to be willing to work with whatever comes your way, and have backup systems for the occasions when you can't get as much as you need. But I find it a rewarding stategy not just from a financial standpoint, but also because I'm doing my part to lessen the unconscionable amount of food that gets wasted in this country.