Food Majors #15 Eating Seasonally
Life is hard, food doesn't have to be. [vol1, 7.4]
When I was about 10 years old, I remember being in a relative’s kitchen. The countertops overflowed with jars of tomatoes from the summer harvest. This relative in particular was, and continues to be, one of the hardest working people I’ve ever met.
Dumbfounded by the amount of work she had put into planting, harvesting then preserving tomatoes, I asked her incredulously, “Why do you do that instead of buying tomatoes at the store?”
I added with an air of influence, “Canned tomatoes are really cheap.”
With love in her voice she responded with passion, “These TASTE so much better!”
And that was the beginning of my eyes being opened to the difference.*
Have you discovered the difference between homegrown and store bought? Can you taste the difference between juicy bright tomatoes in season versus mealy winter ones shipped from afar?
This is a difference I am working to help my children understand. Not just the difference in taste but also to eat according to the seasons. We have been gorging ourselves on watermelons since June. Maybe even more so since my friend Valour pointed out that watermelon is only eaten raw. It’s one fruit that we don’t eat frozen. Just fresh.
We have not discriminated between varieties or locations. I want my family to discern the difference between a pale seedless melon grown en masse in Florida in June and a deep red seeded one grown in Arkansas in the extreme heat of July.
Yesterday we found by great surprise two of the biggest cucumbers in our tiny backyard garden. With extreme enthusiasm each of my littles harvested one. We all agreed this we have grown tastes way better than anything we’ve bought from a store.
Because I’m always running the number in my head, I started to think of what that cucumber cost us. This was our first year to have a raised bed and as a result, our veggies this year are quite expensive. We invested about $150 in supplies. We definitely won’t recoup this year - or even in the next several years.
But what price are we willing to pay for knowledge? Experience? Nutrient density?
Seeing my children beyond excited about picking vegetables and becoming discerning eaters is priceless to me.
Hope to see you at the farmers’ market Saturday!
Julie
*So you want to know what’s ironic about this story? Both of my grandmothers had huge gardens and preserved food. My family of origin ate green beans and corn (with cornbread!) from the garden at most meals. It took a conversation with a relative outside my immediate sphere of influence to begin to understand the value of fresh and local.
Keep having those conversations with your picky eater loved ones. Their palates can become discerning. Mine did.