Seasonal

I was reminded today in a conversation with my sister that there is a time and a place for food. She has been reading a book, Perfect Health: The Complete Mind/Body Guide, Revised and Updated Edition, and was pleasantly surprised when the final chapter reiterated and reinforced the concepts that I have been reading about, viewing, talking about and pondering these last many months. The first is that food is seasonal and should be eaten, as much as possible, in the season that it is grown. I leave room for preserving the food in the season it is grown. Second, food should be derived first from local sources in order to better serve our environment and communities. Third, certain types of foods should be eaten at certain times. For instance, ice tea is a summer drink and hot tea is a winter drink. We should eat more in the winter and less in the summer and largely our own bodies will guide these desires.

I find it facinating that, as a culture, we have come to ignor the thousands of years of food culture that has developed before this time. Througout the centuries culture and food rules came to exist because of what made the most sense from a health, environmental, community, practical and financial standpoint. Even if the cultures that were developing these rules never explicitly sat down and wrote them out (although some did) with a focus on the above topics. For instance, beef is best consumed in the winter months. A cow is ready at this time to be slautered the kind of nourishment it provides is well suited to giving us what we need to sustain through the winter. Chicken on the other hand is best consumed in the summer. It is ready for slauter in the spring and summer months. It is lighter and easier to digest in the hot summer months when heavy foods are less appealing. Root vegetables are available in the fall and keep well over the winter. They tend to be heartier and higher in calories in a time when food is harder to come by. Fresh, tender vegetables are available in the summer when food is plentiful the caloric value is less and it spoils faster. Think about the food traditions that you know of that follow a seasonal pattern.

Now, think about the homongenized choices you were presented with the last time you ate out to a meal. We have come to expect every kind of food available at any time any where. I belive that this was never meant to be the case.

But, while we have beets, corn and peaches in abundance it is good to eat and be merry. For dinner tonight we had grilled chicken (from Rumbleway Farm), steamed corn on the cob (from Hopkins Farm), beets and beet greens (from Sunny Hill) and sliced peaches. The butter was from Trickling Springs and our milk was from Kilby Creamery.