WHY I’M REVISITING SEASONAL EATING
With summer here and a recent visit to the Hampton Court Flower Show where I got to listen to a talk by Stephanie Hafferty, who wrote NoDig Organic Home & Garden with Charles Dowding (my inspiration for starting up my veg patch in March 2020), I’ve been coming back to thinking more and more about variety in my diet and seasonal eating. Seasonal eating is something that has been part of my vocab for the last 15 years and is advocated by Ayurveda, but it’s also something that slips away oh so easily when you are busy and relient on supermarket shopping in an urban environment.
Shopping supermarket veg is both a blessing and a curse. The rise of the supermarket has led to the decline of traditional fruit and veg stalls, greengrocers and one to one relationships with shopkeepers on our local high streets and a complete separation from our food producers and where our food comes from. Go to a large enough store, and you have a convenient choice of wrapped, weighed and priced produce; grapes and blueberries all year round and always the standard variety of butternut squash, cucumber, courgette, cauliflower, sweet potato and spinach bags, green beans, onions, celery, bananas and let’s not forget the staple frozen peas and thankfully (more on that below) more than one variety of apple, potato and tomato and perhaps now with recent trends two varieties of broccoli, carrots and salad leaves. And I’ve noticed in some supermarkets that previously seasonal selections such as fresh figs and asparagus are now available all year round. But does this actually reflect what is being grown seasonally in Britain, and even our neighbouring countries? Many of the above are flown in from far and wide, such as tomatoes from Morocco, apples from South Africa, green beans from Kenya and avocados from Peru, it’s all written there on the packet in black and white, but do any of us have time or the bandwidth to even notice? Likewise, what about the fruit and veg we try to grow out of season here in the UK — ultimately this is forced to grow when it’s not its natural time to grow. This often means more chemicals are used, as well as more energy and resources.
Eating seasonally, which might well be known as “what’s aplenty” or “what’s at its best,” was once a way of life (seeing as that was all that was available!), but today it seems to be a privilege much like eating organic or pesticide-free food. My hope is that with greater awareness, and greater connection and support of farmers markets and our local seasonally farmed produce, there will come a time when it is widely available to others at a more affordable price point. Eating in-season food creates an environment for our bodies to thrive in the current season so it's a strange fact that so much of our seasonal produce never makes it to our supermarket shelves or is shipped abroad whilst we’re simultaneously importing other varieties of fruit and veg.
Seasonal eating helps us to build awareness of ourselves and our environment, which in turn helps us to be more in the present, another important way to boost mind-body health along with eating fresh food rich in Prana. Often months can run into each other with the recall of memories only correctly dated by marked events like birthdays, Christmas and Easter but what about the first peach of the season? We are intrinsically linked to flow with nature, so eating fresh crisp salads in the height of summer when these foods are at their abundance feels intuitively right and supports the body naturally (in January the UK imports 90% of its lettuce, in June we produce 95% of our own), just as eating hearty root veg stew in the depths of winter nourishes the body and soul when we need it most. We are not separate from the cycle of the seasons, which is something to remember next time we are putting the same 7-8 veg into our trolleys that we have done all year. Creating new recipes or adapting with available seasonal ingredients is a challenge that helps me keep my sanity in a fast-paced world.
When I lived in Central London, in Elephant and Castle, I spent my Saturdays locally at Oval Farmers market or Sundays at Maltby Street in Borough. With our move to Bromley, we adopted Crystal Palace Food Market and Brockley Market as our new haunts,and Nick and I enjoyed our weekly ritual trips to one or the other. These days, working from home and having a new baby has changed our routine and for now, we’ve gone back to veg box deliveries to make sure we have consistent fresh seasonal food in the house. We order weekly veg boxes from our friends at Riverford (I enjoy the highs and lows of organic and seasonal veg growing in Guy Singh-Watson’s newsletters) and at a glance I get to see what’s in season.
This is one quick way to check in, but over the years, especially with recipe writing and planning, I’ve relied on websites and calendars to get a look at what to be cooking with right now and how the rest of the year fares. I’ve listed some of those resources below and of course with a quick tweak or new search you can find them for whichever country/zone you’re living in. But as much as we like to nail things down and have them in black and white, mother nature, rhythmic in her ways, is never exacting and keeps us on our toes. Likewise, recent freak or extreme weather attributed to climate change has seen what we rely on as definitive seasons in the UK all muddled. Unexpected weather (as we’ve had here with parts of the UK experiencing the wettest May on record and parts of Europe simultaneously experiencing record temperatures for June) can quickly throw the growing season off course. Temperature fluctuations, too much rain or indeed too little rain can see some crops fail whilst others flourish — Charles Dowding’s No Dig newsletter is a good one to sign up for the latest drama, whether you grow or not, and if you read my latest veg patch blog and saw my Instagram stories that I, along with most of the country, welcomed a slug infestation alongside the rain. All this serves to remind us of the journey and story of what has gone into what ends up on our plate.
Seasonal eating can be addressed through the wisdom of Ayurveda and Ritucharya AKA the seasonal guidelines where we take into account the Doshic energies of our environment and adjust our diets accordingly with foods and cooking techniques/cuisines. The aim is to not only focus on what has opposing qualities in order to maintain or gain mind-body balance with the changing seasons throughout the year, but also focus on fortifying your Agni. But if anything, Ayurveda teaches us that our bodies are a part of, integrated with and dependent on the natural world for our health and wellbeing. Once asking an Ayurvedic Vaidya if the food and combination that I had made ‘was Ayurvedic’ she replied if it’s fresh and therefore packed with Prana (life-force) it’s Ayurvedic. And what is more Prana-ful in terms of fruit and veg than those grown, ripened, picked, prepared and eaten to the rhythm of the seasons?
So when did you last eat a blackberry, some sage or tarragon? Have you ever eaten a kohlrabi, celeriac or turnip? While we've become accustomed to fashionable fruit and veg from other countries being staples in our diet — for example, the banana or avocado — we have forgotten the old-fashioned foods that grow well in the UK. And it’s not just the different types of fruit and veg but all the varieties that lie within them, e.g. the different types of mushrooms for the different seasons or the Brassicaceae (or Cruciferae) family — which includes watercress, turnips, radishes and cabbages. Off the top of my head I can list at least six cabbage varieties all with a different texture and unique tastes (and thinking about it now I’m struggling to pick a favourite), but I’m not sure I could for the others.
Eating seasonally encourages being creative with what fruit and veg you’re consuming and likewise, trying out different varieties of each — reaching for cucumbers all summer long is thirst-quenching but can become mundane until you realise there are a number of varieties of cucumber with different tastes and textures to try. We have lost sight of many of our heritage crops with intensive farming focused on a small number of crop varieties and supermarkets concentrating on single varieties for cost and convenience.
Greater variety means greater choice and a more extensive range of nutrients for your body. Every food has its own nutrient profile making it high in certain minerals, vitamins and nutrients and low in others, so even varying foods within a category such as nuts is important to avoid being too low OR high (!) in anything. Remember: in Ayurveda the dose makes the medicine or the poison. Also try and remember to eat the rainbow, as different coloured veg brings different benefits to the table that are ever more potent when in season. With all this in mind, it’s important that we acknowledge the thousands of lost or almost lost heritage or heirloom varieties, those that were historically grown on a small scale in the UK by people who lived off the land — for growers it’s not too late to cultivate these in our own gardens or otherwise support farmers who are bringing those in decline back into the limelight and onto our plates.
Variety really is the spice of life, and rhythm provides the framework for helping us to tune into and enjoy the current season rather than wishing away the time wanting cooler or warmer weather, so maybe try something new and seasonal this week. As with everything when it comes to incorporating new healthy habits into your lifestyle, do what you can with the resources you have — take it one step at a time and enjoy the journey (which is where we learn and grow) rather than stressing about the destination!
WEBSITE RESOURCE
A simple website giving you an easy one-stop look at what’s in season in the UK across veg, fruit, meat and fish, as well as highlighting what seasonal imported produce to keep an eye out for.
DOWNLOADABLE CHART
A handy and simple downloadable chart which, in a calendar format, sets out which fruit and vegetables are in season.
THE COST OF EATING FOOD GROWN WITH NATURE
Check out my blog on organic vs biodynamic vs regenerative farming.
WHAT’S IN SEASON: SUMMER
Check out this post to find out.