#7: Eating in Season

My enthusiasm for discovering where my food comes from lingers on.

As I move from Skinny Bitch to The Omnivore’s Dilemma, my enthusiasm for discovering where my food comes from lingers on. So far I’m learning a lot about corn, and how pretty much everything non-plant that we eat contains some form of it. Which is interesting since there is very little of nutritional value in corn. Hmm.

What I’m excited about this year that’s new in my life is eating according to the seasons. Since we started taking the vegetable basket at our doorstep once a week, we’ve been sort of forced into it. Not only do we find the challenge of finding recipes for all of these vegetables we’ve never tried (or sometimes even heard of) exciting, but we also love learning about what is growing now—and in our region. In other words, even though you can buy pineapple at the grocery store in the cold winter months, it’s not in season, and therefore our bodies don’t need it. That is what is eye-opening for me. Our bodies are in great harmony with the earth. We sleep when it’s dark and rise when it’s light. Why fight the earth when it comes to eating what it provides? We have to go with it. So if you don’t like leafy greens, the winters will be long for you!

Mike and I both are into eating this way, sweet potatoes in the fall and winter, berries in the summer. So now we are introducing the idea to Bella, who very much enjoys a Clementine, thank you very much, no matter the weather outside. We’re telling her the oranges don’t grow nearby right now, so we’re moving on to apples for the time being. I can’t say we’re 100% on this, but we’re trying, and it’s actually pretty fun.

We all spend a whole lot of time planning, buying, preparing and eating food, so why not get more involved in what we’re choosing to put in our bodies? This is just one more way to tread more gracefully on the planet. I like it.