Koonoomoo’s Big Strawberry gets a makeover for a good cause

By Contributed

Apr 22, 2024

Australia loves its ‘big things’.

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From the Big Banana to the Big Pineapple, these unique sculptures continue to draw local and international crowds from all walks of life to regional locations across the country.

But another ‘big thing’ that is barely spoken about is the nation’s food waste problem, with 2.4 billion kilograms of ‘ugly’ fruit and vegetables going to landfill in Australia every year.

To draw attention to this issue, healthy soft drinks brand DASH Water joined forces with local Aussie farmers Darren and Tarn Hayes to hijack and ‘wonkify’ Koonoomoo’s Big Strawberry, spreading the word that wonky fruits and vegetables — that’s the bent, crushed, misshapen fruit and vegetables that others say no to — are just as beautiful and delicious as any other.

The Big Strawberry was wonkified between Saturday, April 20, through to Sunday, April 21.

‘Ugly’ fruits and vegetables are the highest contributing factor to food waste in Australia, with 30 per cent of produce never leaving the farm gate and going straight to landfill.

DASH Water has aimed to help to fight food waste across the country, giving farmers peace of mind that their wonky or surplus crops and the energy used to produce them won’t go to waste.

The company explains its sparkling spring water is infused with locally grown, real Aussie ‘wonky fruit’.

For those who stopped and admired the wonky spectacle, they were rewarded, not just with a peculiar site but free cans of DASH Water popular healthy soft drink.

DASH Water co-founder Jack Scott said that growing up in a family of farmers, food waste had always been an important issue to him and one of the main reasons why they’d infused real wonky fruits into their cans.

“We’re proud to use business as a force of good and are excited to partner with the Big Strawberry to create the biggest wonky strawberry anyone has ever seen, and in Australia of all places, surrounded by great big things,” he said ahead of last weekend’s event.

Big Strawberry co-owner and strawberry farmer Tarn Hayes was supportive of the idea.

Original: The Big Strawberry before the make-over. Photo by Contributed

“We couldn’t be happier to collaborate with DASH Water to bring attention to Australia’s big food waste problem,” he said.

“We understand that fruit in all shapes, sizes and forms are beautiful and, more importantly, delicious, despite what supermarkets are telling us. Just because a piece of fruit and veg isn’t perfectly symmetrical, doesn’t mean it needs to go straight to landfill.”