Seasonal Food

Let us first clarify a question: what exactly is seasonal food - what does it mean: season?

The dictionary definition of season: 'each of the four divisions of the year (spring, summer, autumn, and winter) marked by particular weather patterns and daylight hours, resulting from the earth's changing position with regard to the sun'.

That sounds pretty abstract in relation to food, but when it comes to fruits and vegetables, it simply means that each variety naturally grows and thrives particularly well for a certain time of the year.

Regional and Seasonal

In today's world we find pretty much everything our hearts desire in the supermarket all year round. Even if they are actually not in season here in the UK. This is because many foods are transported from far away, where they can grow well at the time, or are grown in greenhouses, where they are supplied with heat and light.

The CO2 Question

Sometimes availability is also due to the fact that the fruit or vegetables, such as beetroot and potatoes, can be stored well and can therefore still be enjoyed a few months after the end of the season. But these foods also have to be cooled and that costs energy.

Foods that we would like to eat outside of their natural harvest times and are therefore not seasonal food generally have a high carbon footprint. Everything that does not come from the fields around the local province, produces a particularly high amount of climate-damaging gases. There can be different reasons for this. But the greatest influence is from the transport of goods by planes, ships and trucks as well as the energy requirements of greenhouses and growing.

What can I do?

The most important thing is first of all not to simply buy blindly what is currently cheap or present. The BBC Good Food, has calendar guidelines. If you look at what is in season before you go shopping, and it doesn’t have to be every time, but only every few weeks or months, and then you look at the supermarket to see where the fresh produce that you would like to buy comes from is halfway there.

Incidentally, it is now mandatory to specify the country of origin of a product in the fruit and vegetable department - Cheers to transparency! If you can't find the information, ask briefly, the employees can and must help you.

Then try to buy regional products if possible. So most likely British harvest, or fruit and vegetables from a neighbouring country.

Be brave and try new things!

I assure you that with the information on the seasonal calendar you can suddenly get to know completely new types of vegetables and fruits. If you are not sure how to process them, use the vastness of the internet, or of course Pinterest. In this way you expand your own range of flavors and automatically eat a more varied diet.

But if you don't want to go without the exotic that just don't grow in Europe, stick to fruits that are usually transported by ship to keep the carbon footprint down.

Even small decisions make a huge difference here. When I started to pay attention to countries of origin, a lot at a time supermarkets sell products from all over the world. So onions and apples actually come from New Zealand every now and then. Avoiding the purchase of such products and thereby setting an example makes a big contribution. So don't make it too difficult for yourself and don't rack your brains, but don't go shopping headless. Getting started with seasonal food and the associated effects is a start.

Additional tip: If you have the opportunity to go shopping at a weekly market near you, definitely take this option. It is a completely different, much more pleasant experience than in the supermarket. You can find tips on how to shop as free of plastic as possible here . In addition, the products there are much more seasonal and regional, because most products are obtained directly from the farmers in the surrounding area. But don't forget cash and shopping bags!

If your local to Cornwall (like me) check out Perranarworthal Fruit and Veg Stall!