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Food For Thought: What is Seasonal?
Food for Thought is a regular column on A Beautiful Ripple Effect! It is written by nutrition + inspiration guru extraordinaire Whitney Ahneman. The column is published every other Monday! Check out Whitney’s introduction video about the series in this post!
What is Seasonal?
In New England I can feel the seasons beginning to shift. My weeks are filled with transitory summer weather — intermittently broken by a block of days previewing autumn. Alongside the shifting temperatures (I won’t have any trouble saying goodbye to the humidity!), I can start to see the shift in food seasons in the grocery stores and farmers’ markets. Oh the last batches of tomatoes over the next month and a half are expected to be divine! The prices of fresh berries and melons are creeping up, and the first influx of ripe apples are just around the corner.
Why does seasonality matter?
It’s a crying shame that most consumers nowadays don’t know much about seasonal produce. Our grocery stores are packing with every fruit and vegetable every day of the year. Intuitively, does that really make sense? Some of these are picked before they’re ripe because they have to be shipped halfway across the world. Others have little flavor and even less nutrients because they’re being grown out of season (and likely in soil that isn’t being given a break). Where did we go so wrong?
Just like the next person, I love trying new recipes and eating a variety of flavors throughout the day/week/month. Having unlimited access to ingredients year round makes this possible. Adding the limits of seasonality in grocery store options only adds another level of stress to the notion of meal planning. Should convenience trump nutrition, and not to mention sustainability, when it comes to our food supply? Convenience has become a cornerstone of decision making, extending into health choices.
Grassroots change…
The only way to slowly shift out of the state of omnipresent produce is through consumer demand. With that said, I turn the discussion over to you. Do you notice the taste differences in produce from season to season? Do you plan some (not all!) of your meals around in-season produce? Would shifting produce availability create more of a headache than it’s worth?
I’m quite curious! Believe me I am no expert on seasonality, I go with my gut, check out the prices, and cross-reference when I’m not sure but surely don’t follow any black or white guidelines. I know it can be difficult so I’ve created a downloadable guideline for you to reference! Happy shopping!
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Food For Thought Previous Posts:
- Oh Breakfast, Where Art Thou? (includes a free PDF!)
- You Are What You Eat, Literally
- Inflammation and You
- Demeanor Determines Consumption
Related "ripples" you might enjoy:
- Food For Thought: Holiday Hot Topics
- Food For Thought: Blame it on the alcohol!
- Food For Thought: Non-Yucky Thoughts on Successful Aging
- Food For Thought: Oh Breakfast, Where Art Thou?
- Food for Thought: You are What You Eat, Literally
This entry was posted on Monday, August 30th, 2010 at 7:00 am and is filed under Food for Thought, Guest Bloggers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
6 Responses to “Food For Thought: What is Seasonal?”
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I grew up on a produce farm so I absolutely notice seasonality. I moved from MI to AZ and the taste of produce here is unrecognizable. We’ve yet to taste an apple that is worth eating. So when we fill our suitcases with apples before flying home;)
Haha, great anecdote Tess! Thanks for speaking up!
Whitney´s last blog ..Apps for Healthy Kids – Voting Time!
I totally get what you are saying, I notice that some of the product doesn’t seem to taste the same at certain times of the year… never knew why! Thanks for enlightening me :)
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