e sse nt i al dining
Smash Browns–Bacon Cheddar Potato Bombs with a Sunny Egg
UGLY App le cafe Wasted...fruit. Wasted...fruit. Today we know better than to judge our food on looks. But not too long ago we were produceshaming crooks. Sorry. I apologize to Jim Steinman and Meat Loaf for defacing their music. I also apologize to Laurel Burleson, owner and chef of Ugly Apple Cafe, because this is an article about her Ugly Apple Cafe. But my lyrical offense has a point: the name Ugly Apple is meant to spark conversation aiming to educate patrons that food waste goes beyond just what we throw away after a meal. Even though a lot more of us are coming around to ignoring harmless deformities in our food, the message of waste is plenty relevant, and Ugly Apple is using it to make food that’s as mindful as it is tasty. 14 | m a d i s o n e s s e n t i a l s
by Kyle Jacobson
The extent of the food-waste problem really became clear to Laurel during her time working for a high-end restaurant in Madison and, later, a country club. “It seemed like such a shame,” says Laurel. “Why is stuff that’s perfectly good having to go in the trash?” Inspired to do better, Laurel went to farmers’ markets in the area to educate herself on the issue at large. She quickly realized that farmers were having difficulty selling their fruits and vegetables when they came out looking kinda funny. “At the time, it seemed like this is an important niche that people aren’t noticing or seeing. ... I came up with the concept of I want to use seconds, but I was thinking more tomatoes. At the end of tomato season, everyone has way too many tomatoes. Sometimes they’re cracked, but I can make soup. I can make sauce.” The vision was to have a food cart downtown for breakfast, and she had the name Ugly Apple already picked out. “People around my age were like, ‘Great name. Cool.’ And people my parents’ ages were like, ‘Don’t call it that.’” Personally, I dig the name, but there was one large repercussion. Orchards started reaching out to Laurel, and soon she had tons of apples
