These days we can buy almost any fruit or vegetable year-round, but they are not always at their best. An in-season tomato, sweet and juicy, is worlds apart from an off-season one force-grown and shipped from afar. Eating seasonally is a return to the natural rhythm of food.
Beyond taste, eating seasonally brings many quiet benefits. It is cheaper, fresher and helps us reconnect with the cycle of nature through the very meals we eat each day.
In season means tasty and cheap
When a fruit or vegetable is at its peak, it is abundant, fresh and usually cheapest of the whole year. Nature produces exactly what suits the weather at that time, and its flavor is richer and more natural than off-season produce.
Off-season is the opposite, often more expensive because it must be grown with difficulty or shipped from far away, yet bland in flavor. Just paying a little attention at the market, you will notice what is in full swing and most worth buying.
Seasonal eating is good for the body
There is an interesting harmony between the seasons and the body’s needs. Hot weather gives us juicy fruits and cooling vegetables to beat the heat. Cold weather offers hearty roots and tubers, perfect for warm, comforting stews.
Eating in tune with the seasons like this lets nature care for us naturally. Food eaten at the right time is not only tasty but also matches what the body needs in each stretch of weather.
Go to market and let the season lead
A fun way to eat seasonally is to head to the market without a set dish in mind, then let whatever is freshest that day suggest the meal. Shopping this way makes you more flexible and creative, rather than rigidly following a list.
Traditional markets and local produce stalls usually reflect the seasons clearly. Chatting with the vendors is also a great way to learn what is good right now and how to prepare it.
Preserving the flavors of the season
When a fruit is in full season and cheap, you can buy plenty and find ways to save it for later. Drying, making jam, pickling or freezing are all ways to preserve the season’s flavor to enjoy little by little.
Those homemade jars also carry the memory of a season. Opening one during the off-season, we feel as if we are tasting again a bit of the sun and rain of a time gone by.
Eating seasonally is a way of eating that is tasty, thrifty and in tune with nature’s rhythm. Choose what is in full swing, let the season suggest the meal, and preserve its flavors when you can. When the table changes with the seasons, we eat not just to be full but to feel the gentle turning of time.