Franco Fubini is the founder and CEO of Natoora, a produce supplier built entirely around flavor, working directly with growers across Europe, the US and Australia and supplying some of the most famous restaurants in the world. He is the author of In Search of the Perfect Peach: Why Flavour Holds the Answer to Fixing Our Food System, published by Chelsea Green, and a judge for the Food Planet Prize.

Most of us were trained to reach for the best looking thing on the shelf. Franco explains why the fruit we pass over is almost always the better one, and why that has almost nothing to do with what farmers can grow and almost everything to do with what a supermarket can move.

We talk about crop planning and what it means to tell a farmer you will sell whatever they grow, why a scarred nectarine carries more flavor than a flawless one, how anyone can start learning to taste, why an English glasshouse tomato can carry a heavier footprint than one trucked up from Sicily, and what trust actually looks like when there is no label doing that work for you. In the end, he shares a favorite food memory that will have anyone yearning for the Italian coast and a simple summer meal. 

Natoora: https://natoora.com
In Search of the Perfect Peach: https://www.chelseagreen.com/writer/franco-fubini/
Natoora on Winter Tomatoes and the Marinda: https://natoora.com/en-GB/stories/what-are-winter-tomatoes/
How Natoora started: https://natoora.com/en-US/our-story/
Food Planet Prize: https://foodplanetprize.org/people/franco-fubini/
Riverford: https://www.riverford.co.uk
Ocado: https://www.ocado.com
Darina Allen on tasting is believing, Season 1: https://gardensofearthlydelight.com/episodes/the-solution-is-under-your-feet

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/franconatoora/
Natoora: https://natoora.com

This season, like the first, is ad-free and listener-funded. You can make a one-time or recurring donation through our fiscal sponsor, tax deductible in the US: https://fundraising.fracturedatlas.org/gardens-of-earthly-delight

Or subscribe to the newsletter for $7 a month and get the extended notes for every episode, plus the parts of these conversations that did not make the recording: https://gardensofearthlydelight.substack.com

Website: https://gardensofearthlydelight.com
Listen and subscribe: https://gardensofearthlydelight.com/subscribe
Substack: https://gardensofearthlydelight.substack.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gardensofearthlydelightpod/
Everything in one place: https://linktr.ee/gardensofearthlydelight

Music by Dolly Valentine: https://open.spotify.com/artist/00CmJgHxGVen5RjRFppVUt
Logo by Hunky Kitty: https://altonkyle.com