This New Montreal Food Brand Sells Rescued 'Imperfect' & 'Ugly' Grocery Items For Cheaper

Marché SecondLife is for those who don't mind the occasional misshapen tomato or oddly-cut pasta. The Montreal grocery service rescues and delivers imperfect items — "ugly vegetables," "products with a labelling error, an imperfect recipe, a funny shape or unpurchased excess" — with a mission to reduce food waste and promote sustainable consumption.

The Marché has just introduced its own food brand, Proudly Different, which it calls "the first-ever brand of fully repurposed food products in Canada."

Courtesy of Marché SecondLife

Examples of products shoppers can find under the new brand name include "pasta with minor imperfections, surplus coffee stocks, salad dressings that didn't follow the recipe to the letter, [...] and mislabeled almond butters," according to a press release.

"By marketing imperfect or unsold products, we initiate a dialogue on food waste, on our perception of what is beautiful and perfect, and on imposed standards that have nothing to do with taste," SecondLife found and president Thibaut Martelain said in the release.

Courtesy of Marché SecondLife

"We want to revalue the work of farmers and food manufacturers, while raising awareness on the reality of food businesses."

SecondLife says it saved over 339 tons of fruits and vegetables from the discard pile in 2020.

Proudly Different products are now available to order through Marché SecondLife.

Orders are available for delivery or for free pick-up at stores throughout Montreal.