“As consumers, we would all benefit from a return to eating seasonal, local food. It would cut back on the extravagant amounts of greenhouse gases emitted through air freight. It would help struggling local farmers. But above all, it would reintroduce us to more nutritional, tastier food as well as helping us to reconnect with the people that produce our food.”
Leo Hickman, A Good Life
February is of course the month for sprouts, which is a prospect that fills you all with deep joy, I’m sure. But, leeks are about, and cabbages. The winter classics of swede and parsnip are too, and potatoes. And why not try your hand at preparing some jerusalem artichokes?
Beyond vegetables, halibut and mussels are good right now, and so is guinea fowl, if you want to try something a bit different. It’s a good time to eat cod too, but look out for the Pacific variety rather than Atlantic, which is vanishing.
Check out the BBC’s food pages for some seasonal cooking inspiration, and remember – you don’t need to be a martyr to seasonal food. You can still treat yourself. There’s nothing wrong with a few luxuries. The important thing is that we begin to recognise the true cost of our food, and that we appreciate which foods are the luxuries, and which ones are the staples.
February 3, 2008 at 11:00 am
Thanks for this – I agree that we should try and seasonal food in season. Not only is it better for the environment, I’d much rather eat raspberries once a year when they taste of raspberries, than all year round and forget what they really taste like.
I’m never quite sure what’s in season when – a consequence of not growing things myself, I’m sure. So that link the the BBC website was helpful.
While still shopping at Sainsbury’s, I’m trying not to buy food that’s been flown half way across the world. I (perhaps naively) think to myself that maybe, one day, if everyone did the same, Sainsbury’s might stop purchasing food from the other side of the world. OK, so we’d save on emissions, but would that be a good thing to do economically (for the producing countries)? Probably not. Difficult questions. Packaging, though, seems to get worse, not better. Why do four organic pears wrapped in plastic and placed on a polystyrene base?! Nothing organic about that!