May 21st, 2023 Sunday Sunny
Eating seasonal food used to be a necessity, something that our ancestors took for granted. Before modern storage and transportation techniques became reality, most people had no option but to eat what was ripe and harvested from the soil nearby at the time, be it pea pods in the spring, watermelon in the summer, apples in the fall, or rutabagas in the winter. Being able to afford unseasonal produce – either transported from faraway lands or grown specially in greenhouses – was considered as a luxury.
Nowadays, in major supermarkets, I could completely forget about the come-and-go of seasons, because the stock of produce (both the availability and prices) barely changes throughout the year. It is just as straightforward to get a pack of fresh basil leaves for pasta in the bleak winter as in the hottest days of the summer. We seem to have an abundance of choices to eat whatever we like, whenever we want.
Still, I make a conscious effort to eat seasonally as much as possible. You might hear many opinions from nutritionists, agricultural scientists, and ecologists about the importance of eating seasonal and local food. I certainly see their reasoning, yet my own motives for eating seasonally are much less sophisticated 😉
The first reason is cost. Even though most produce can be found year round, when they are in season, grocery stores often have them on sale (e.g. apples in the fall could be less than a dollar per pound, compared to two dollars per pound during other seasons). Since I can enjoy the same food (e.g. apple pie) for less money, why do I have to spend more? I am patient enough to have the delayed gratification even if it is a food I am particularly fond of, if waiting for the seasonal sale means I could have it with much smaller dent to my bank account 😛
Of course, cost is not the only consideration – it is not even the major one. What seasonal and local food are clearly superior to their long-distance counterparts is the flavor. I have not found any watermelon in the winter delicious, and strawberries dipped in chocolate, a popular treat for the New Year and the Valentine’s day, really just look like, rather than taste like strawberries freshly picked in early summer. Anyone who has ever tried our homemade pasta sauce using sun-ripened tomatoes directly from the vine would never think those red blobs sold in supermarkets any time of year, possibly having traveled thousands of miles and stayed on the shelf for multiple weeks, should be given the same name and respect.
However, the most practical reason for me to eat seasonally is the relative simpleness to pick recipes for each week. The freedom of choice is really a double-edged sword. Research has shown that people’s satisfaction with choices is the highest when there are five options, beyond which the overwhelming options decrease our satisfaction. In the case of selecting recipes to cook and bake, I usually have trouble deciding among so many dishes and ingredients from all over the world, and I would have second thought even after I have already made a choice. ??
So I set some restrictions for myself: e.g. instead of browsing the menu of all desserts, right now I try to find recipes that feature late spring specialties, such as strawberries and rhubarbs. Some foods are versatile at any time of the year (e.g. pasta), but they could be prepared differently depending on the season (e.g. with different sauces such as dandelion pesto in spring). This approach clearly narrows down the “candidate pool” and make my life much easier ?
Bonus: I feel more connected to nature when I am savoring this strawberry rhubarb humble crumble on a beautiful spring afternoon ?