By Rachael Schultz
Eating seasonally was one of those things I always heard about and I knew I should do, but I never knew why. Just like eating locally, I considered it an idea thrown around by über-environmentally conscious people who scoffed at my reusuable water bottle as they drank out of their superior mason jars.
But eating seasonally is one of the best things not only for the environment but also for your health.
Think about it. You go to the grocery store and see a box of deliciously perfect, ruby red strawberries. But it’s the middle of winter and you haven’t seen any strawberries growing around your house. Obviously, those strawberries were grown far enough away for the weather to be warm and ground to be fertile. Ignoring the fact that this means your perfect box of strawberries traveled thousands of miles using endless amounts of gas, you think there can be nothing wrong with buying them because they look so plump and juicy. But if those strawberries traveled all that way, how are they still so perfect?
The answer: pesticides and preservatives. Your perfect strawberries were more than likely covered in pesticides, picked when they were green, and chocked up with chemicals to throw off their natural cycle and keep them from ripening too fast and rotting in the time it takes to transport them to your grocery store.
How perfect are those strawberries now?
Don’t worry though, because come summer, those strawberries really will be perfect. Because that’s when they’re supposed to be eaten.
By eating seasonally, you’re buying food that was grown naturally, food that is supposed to grow in the dead of winter or in the heat of summer.
Buying seasonally goes hand-in-hand with eating locally . While Kroger will probably have in-season vegetables, they may be from South America and present the same problem of having chemicals in them. Local seasonal produce is healthier because not only is it often grown organically, meaning pesticide-free and hormone-free, but also everything’s picked at peak ripeness. It’s intended to be eaten right away so it’s the most nutritious and, most importantly, the most delicious.
Buying local also means your food hasn’t traveled as far. It hasn’t polluted the air you breathe in like traveling across the country or ocean would. And it uses less fossil fuels by reducing or eliminating packaging.
So now the big question is, how do you find out what’s in season? There are some great websites like Epicurious and Fruits & Veggies More Matters that tell you what’s in season where you live. The easiest way to find out, though, is to visit a farmer’s market. Most of their produce is grown within 100 miles or so, and you’re supporting local business. In Savannah, we have Polk’s Fresh Market, Forsyth’s Farmers Market, and Savannah Food Co-op, all of which have locally and seasonally grown produce, and sometimes also have meat and dairy.
On top of it all, the real kicker is most seasonal food is cheaper to buy than the cardboard blackberries you’ll find at Kroger in the winter. Since the food is grown closer, it has passed through less hands which translates into less people to pay and results in cheaper prices for you and me.
Just try it. You don’t have to convert 100 percent to eating only things in-season. Spring is the perfect time of year to try it out. Stop by the local fresh market and you’ll discover like I did that it’s not just for mason-jar-drinking environmentalists. Your eyes will feast on plump tomatoes and juicy apples that put the ones you ate back in December to shame, and your body will thank you for giving it a break from all those chemicals and getting it the nutrients it deserves.
