Until relatively recently I didn’t give much thought to things being “in season.”
I would just go to to one of my local chain supermarkets, load up on whatever looked good or was called for in a recipe, pay, and leave. Living abroad, in France and then Japan, opened my eyes to another world of cooking and eating, and helped me to become more aware of my own bad habits. I learned to anticipate and then savor certain vegetables and fruits that were in season and were only sold in the markets for brief amounts of time. I also began to realize that I enjoyed these things even more. If we had Christmas, or some other wonderful holiday, occurring on a constant basis, I venture to say that we wouldn’t appreciate and anticipate the holiday as much, or gain as much joy from it. I think the same can be said for food. I think the anticipation and the knowledge that our time with a certain item is brief, helps us enjoy it more.
In addition, produce just tastes better when it is in season. Tomatoes are more tomatoey and oranges more orangey. Upon returning to the US after living abroad each time, I would slowly fall back into my bad habits, this past time being no exception. I wrote recently about a brand new Farmer’s Market in my city. I’ve been using that market as a way to motivate myself to be better about using what’s in season, rather than running to the supermarket and grabbing whatever I see.
