A lot of food is unnecessarily wasted because it doesn’t meet aesthetic standards. Maybe the carrots are gnarly, a banana is too short, or a potato has some spots (we like to think of them as design elements). These imperfections don’t render food inedible, but they often keep it off grocery store shelves. (See Here’s How to Solve World Hunger.)

So Your Shot and The Plate teamed up and asked you to cast underdog produce in a new light. We launched the #UglyFoodIsBeautiful hashtag challenge last week on Your Shot, National Geographic’s photo community.

The challenge runs until March 7th, but I was so excited about these photos that I couldn’t wait to share them—and why I think they work. Below,