Seasonal eating, where food is consumed during the peak harvesting period, used to be the standard of the human diet. We could only eat what we had locally accessible. However, as innovative food production and storage methods became available, many households fell into the routine of eating the same foods all year round, no matter what the season.
Luckily, as more and more of us are looking to reconnect with how and where our food is produced, eating seasonally is coming back into fashion. By consuming food when it is naturally ready for harvesting, we can enjoy a varied and healthy diet that includes a wide range of fruits and vegetables, regardless of where you live. Seasonal eating also brings benefits to the environment and local producers since crops can be produced with less chemicals and lower food miles. Plus - it just tastes better when food is fresh!
Growing fruits and vegetables in your own garden is the best-case scenario, but even if you live in a city, there are great options available. Buying seasonal produce from the farmers’ market or joining a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) veggie box scheme opens up a whole world of fresh-tasting ingredients from which you can create simple yet delicious recipes with the lowest possible environmental impact.
What is Seasonal Eating?
Seasonal eating involves consuming food that is grown and harvested during its natural growing season, rather than by using artificial production methods. For example, if you’ve ever eaten a bell pepper in the middle of winter, it will have been grown under artificial light and heat, most likely with the help of a whole range of chemical fertilizers and ripening agents. Or, it will have been imported long distances from a location where the growing season still enables farmers to grow peppers during our winter season. In contrast, seasonally grown bell peppers ripen naturally in the sun, giving them a sweetly delicious flavor reminiscent of the warm summer months.
As the seasons roll around, so do the growing conditions – the warmth of summer boosts the sweetness of fruiting vegetables like tomatoes and zucchini, while the cooler winter months give root vegetables such as carrots and beets time to mature slowly. Historically, farmers and homesteaders would have worked with the seasons to grow crops that would thrive; it is only in the last century that we expect to be able to eat any type of fruit or vegetable, no matter what time of year it is.
The Benefits of Seasonal Eating
Eating seasonally not only opens the door to a deliciously varied diet, but it has many other benefits. Numerous studies have shown that crops that are ripened naturally and eaten when fresh carry increased nutritional benefits. They contain higher levels of essential vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, helping to boost immunity and protect against long-term health problems. Crops that are transported for long distances or kept in cold storage quickly lose these vital nutrients. So, not only does seasonal produce taste great, but it helps to keep us healthy, too.
Buying seasonally-grown produce is also beneficial to the local economy, creating jobs for the people in your area and helping to keep farmers in business. Buying direct from the farmer or via a CSA scheme helps to keep money within your community rather than boosting the profits of large corporations. This doesn’t mean that seasonal food will be more expensive, either. You’ll likely find that by cutting out the middleman, your grocery bills actually start to go down.
Food Availability by Season
One of the joys of seasonal eating is that the typical foods available according to the time of year seem to perfectly match our nutritional and emotional needs. From comforting, wholesome winter casseroles to fresh, vitamin-packed summer salads, let’s take a look at what you can expect to enjoy through the changing seasons:
Spring
Spring is the season of all the greens! Expect to enjoy tender stems of asparagus and sprouting broccoli, as well as leafy greens such as watercress, ramps, and arugula. As we emerge out of winter, the first peas will start to appear in local farmers’ markets, plus early fruits like rhubarb, strawberries, and cherries.
Summer
As we move from spring into summer, seasonal produce becomes a whole lot more colorful – imagine the vibrant reds, yellows, purples, and oranges of tomatoes, bell peppers, eggplant, and summer squash, plus an abundance of cucumbers and zucchini. The warmth of summer also brings us plump corn, crisp celery, and sweet, juicy fruits like melons, peaches, raspberries, and plums.
Fall
Fall is famously the season of pumpkins, but you can also expect to find sweet potatoes, turnips, cauliflower, Swiss chard, and Brussels sprouts at your local market. Apples, pears, and persimmons start to ripen as the weather cools, and salad leaves such as lettuce, spinach, and arugula will thrive as the heat of summer subsides.
Winter
If you crave carb-heavy, nutritious meals in the winter, the seasonal vegetable garden can provide everything you need! Root vegetables come into their own during these colder months, providing a regular supply of potatoes, parsnips, carrots, and rutabagas. Citrus fruits such as oranges and grapefruits are also in season during the winter, helping to add some zingy sweetness to your diet.
How to Get Started with Seasonal Eating
Eating seasonally doesn’t have to be complicated – many of the staple crops are available all year round, so you just need to switch a few things around as the seasons progress to stay on track. For example, if you’re a fan of lightly sauteed vegetables, you can enjoy peas and asparagus in the spring, green beans and zucchini all summer long, Brussels sprouts and Swiss chard during fall, and collard greens and carrots right through the winter.
The best way to source seasonal produce is at a local farmers’ market or through a community-supported agriculture (CSA) program. Local producers will only sell what is in season at markets, allowing you to browse and discover new varieties of favorite fruits and vegetables. CSA programs often offer a weekly veg box scheme, providing a range of different seasonal crops delivered right to your door. To take the panic out of being faced with a box full of unfamiliar ingredients, these schemes often include recipe ideas and even weekly meal planners!
For those of you with no access to farmers’ markets or CSA schemes, it is entirely possible to shop seasonally at any standard grocery store. Grocery stores are required to label produce with the country it's grown in, so you can see exactly where each item comes from. Look for locally-grown products and avoid anything that is out of season, using a seasonal produce guide to help you stay on track.
Overcoming Challenges
For many, seasonal eating can be daunting at first – how do you change your meal plan monthly (or even weekly) to suit what is ready to be harvested? Luckily, there are some great ways to cheat the system and make life simpler for yourself!
One advantage is that many seasonal crops can be stored for several months. For example, winter squash and sweet potatoes are grown and harvested during the summer, but as they store well in a cool room right through until early spring, they are normally regarded as winter foods. Other crops, such as onions and leafy green vegetables, can be harvested all year round, while summer crops can be canned, dried, or dehydrated for longer storage.
We all know that daily life can be busy, leaving little time for cooking up a fresh seasonal meal every day. However, seasonal eating doesn’t have to be complicated, and by gathering just a few simple recipes, you can enjoy delicious locally-grown produce all year round. One of the best tips we can give is to simply freeze produce when it’s in season, so you can still eat it year round. You can also batch-cook things like soups, stews, pot pies, and lasagna for easy heat-up meals throughout the year.
Seasonal Eating and Sustainability
As well as benefiting our health, finances, and local community, seasonal eating can also help the planet. Energy-intensive farming methods are used to ensure crops are available in grocery stores all year round, whereas seasonal fruits and vegetables require far less chemical and mechanical intervention. Not to mention the environmental impact of transporting food around the world in climate-controlled containers!
As it becomes increasingly clear that intensive food production methods have a negative environmental impact, more and more of us are looking to return to a traditional seasonal eating mindset. Eating seasonally reduces food miles and enables more farmers to return to ‘old-fashioned’ low-impact crop production methods.
Eating seasonally is also key to reducing food waste, one of the main contributors to climate change. Around a third of all food produced around the world is wasted, which is highly alarming when you consider the energy input required to get food from the farm to your dinner table. Food that is produced out of season and transported long distances is far more likely to deteriorate and be wasted than seasonal produce from your local market.
Discover the Joy of Seasonal Eating
It is clear to see that by eating seasonally, we can enjoy a more varied and flavorsome diet, as well as boost the nutritional benefits of the food we consume. Seasonally-grown produce is packed full of beneficial antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals and also tends to be grown with fewer chemical additives or ripening agents. If more of us chose to eat seasonally, local farmers would be better equipped to embrace regenerative agriculture practices, reducing their impact on the environment. So, if you’re ready to take on this simple and enjoyable challenge, start embracing seasonal eating in your own lives today!