The Best Way to Enjoy What You Eat
Seasonal eating will improve your meal.
The last time I ate broccoli was five months ago. I am now stalking my broccoli plants looking for a hint of a head. Protecting it from insects and making sure it has the right amount of water as the weather cools. My planting schedule tells me that I should harvest it in the middle of November, but you never know with the natural world. My early lettuces bolted in the heat of September before they were big enough to make a salad for two people.
I haven’t eaten broccoli, not because I didn’t want it, but it doesn’t grow very well in the summer months where I live.
I know I could go to the store or the farmers’ market. It grows well within one hundred miles of my home. The local food police won’t show up and take it away.
The first reason I choose not to eat it is that I have access to so many other vegetables in the summertime.
We have tomatoes, green beans, corn, and squash in the summer that we can’t grow in the winter. Why would I go out of my way to buy broccoli when I can eat other vegetables that are around now.
I do work at a vegetable farm and grow vegetables at home, enhancing my situation.
If you live in the city or don’t have time to garden or shop at the farmers’ market, why would you bother eating like this?
Why not eat whatever you want if your grocery store has it? Why go through any deprivation?
This brings us to the second reason I don’t eat produce out of season. It tastes better. And when I finally do eat it, I am rewarded with a better flavor.
I know what you’re thinking. All broccoli tastes the same. Perhaps to an untrained tongue, and broccoli might not be the best example of seasonal eating at its best. But when you understand where your food comes from, making a few choices to not eat food out of season becomes a way of life that improves the food on your plate.
The store is serving you.
When I am asked the famous question, “What one food I would want on a desert island? if I could only have one.” I always say strawberries. To me, they are the perfect fruit. Not too sweet with a…
