Eating with the Season

There is a version of eating that has been almost entirely lost in the last fifty years. The version where what you ate was determined by what was growing, what had been stored, what was available in that place at that time of year. It was not a choice or a philosophy. It was simply how things were. The loss of it is stranger than it sounds. We have gained convenience and variety. We have also lost something harder to name: a connection between the body and the year, a rhythm that ran underneath daily life and gave it a kind of shape. Why it matters Seasonal food tastes better. A tomato grown in August sun and picked ripe bears almost no relationship to a tomato in January, grown under glass, picked early, and transported thousands of miles. The same is true of strawberries, asparagus, corn, stone fruit, and most things that have a season. The difference is not subtle. Once you have tasted it you cannot un-taste it. It is also cheaper. When something is in season, it is abundant, and abundance drives the price down. The market tells you what is in season by making it the cheapest and most plentiful thing on the stall. And it connects you to where and when you are. The first asparagus of spring. The last tomato of summer. The first parsnip after a frost. These become small markers of the year: not losses but anchors. You are living through the year rather than alongside it. What to eat and when Spring brings the first tender things after winter: asparagus, peas, broad beans, spinach, radishes, new potatoes. Light, green, quick to cook. The body wants them after months of roots and storage. Summer is abundance: tomatoes, courgettes, peppers, aubergines, corn, cucumbers, stone fruit. Long days and heat in the food. Salads, grilling, things that need almost no cooking. Autumn is the harvest: squash, pumpkins, apples, pears, mushrooms, root vegetables beginning to come in. The food gets denser and more warming. You start cooking again in a way summer did not ask for. Winter is the long stores: celeriac, parsnips, leeks, brassicas, carrots, potatoes. Slow cooking, soups, braises. Citrus arriving from warmer places just when you need something bright. The body asking for warmth and substance. How to start Go to a market rather than a supermarket when you can. Look at what is abundant, cheap, and being sold in quantity. That is what is in season. Buy it. Cook it simply: seasonal food at its peak needs very little done to it. One change is enough to begin. A weekly market visit. A commitment to buying tomatoes only in summer. A single seasonal recipe tried once a week. The rhythm builds from there.