I remember that when growing up in Wisconsin in the 50s and early 60s, eating seasonally in the winter meant canned tuna/peas/mushroom soup over toast. Pork chops and potatoes. Liver and onions. Casseroles. Iceberg lettuce. But oh! The summer bounty! Watermelon, fresh-caught fish (caught by Dad), tomatoes, corn on the cob, asparagus we harvested from along the railroad tracks, berries from country road-side patches. Fall meant a wealth of apples. Oceans of apples in all their many forms. Okay, so maybe the food wasn't always a cornucopia of great stuff, but we sure did know about eating seasonally.
Today, we can eat anything any time anywhere. Fly it in from somewhere. Dig it out of the freezer. All it takes is money. Here in coastal California we are even more spoiled. We really can get fresh-picked local strawberries nearly 12 months out of the year. I mean berries grown within an hour's drive of our home. Cole vegetables are year around as are most "basic" vegetables. Here it is the end of October and we are getting terrific asparagus. But some things are still prizes of their seasons: winter squash, peaches, the best tomatoes, all come to mind.
The weather, too, dictates many of my cravings. Pea soup, navy bean soup, and chili mean winter to me. Minestrone and cold soups mean summer. Kale, root veggies -- all in the winter. And then there are all of those traditional holiday foods for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter on the one hand; and Memorial Day, the 4th of July and Labor Day on the other.
To cook seasonally certainly means to NOT select all my ingredients from the shelf and the freezer day after day 365 days a year. You know I'm not a purist. I will fall back on those things from time to time, but I'm looking for more. You've seen that I've added a "gadget" to my blog showing what's in season in my area at any given time. You can move the cursor around and check out your area, too. We're spoiled here, it's true. I love reporting what I buy at farmers market each week to thrill and amaze you. Still, I love going with the local seasonal flow.
No, sorry; no cooking today. It just wasn't in the cards. I had a great lunch with a friend at Hush Harbor here in Atascadero. Their portions are huge. I brought half my curried tuna sandwich home and had it for dinner. Poor Randy opened a can of soup, but he said it was good. Progresso, I think. Tomorrow I won't be quite so busy chasing around, running errands, moving yet more boxes from the storage locker to the house and up the stairs and into my studio. Tomorrow I cook.
Carry on.
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