Seasonal Cooking: Simple Ways to Embrace the Seasons with Food
When we think of the changing seasons, we think of course about the weather, but often, food is something that comes to mind as well. When we think of summer we might envision outdoor parties with hotdogs, potato salad, and juicy slices of cold watermelon, or sitting on the deck with our kids enjoying a cold popsicle on a hot summer day. A delicious bowl of steaming soup with a slice of crusty bread can warm us on a cold winter evening, and pumpkin and cranberry desserts make for yummy fall and winter treats. Food is a big part of our lives, especially if you are on a journey of embracing natural and simple living. The seasonality of food adds to the richness and variety of the changing weather and changing rhythms.
Some of this richness of seasonal variety has been lost in the fast-paced world we live in, where to a large extent, food no longer needs to be tied to the seasons in the same way that it once was. After all, it is just as easy to pass drive-through chicken nuggets to the back seat of the car whether it is winter or summer. While there still are foods that are more available seasonally, the nature of the food and grocery industry today means that to a large degree, things are available year-round, and you do not really need to shift your cooking with the seasons. While this is not all bad, and the modernization of the food industry can mean less food insecurity, on the other hand, the food available now may sometimes be less nutritional. There are benefits to cooking seasonal food such as cost, freshness, and sourcing, and food can also add a wealth of tradition and beauty in the most ordinary of ways. Here are a few tips to help incorporate seasonal cooking into your menu:
Add seasonal fruits and vegetables as sides.
Seasonal cooking may seem daunting, especially if you are thinking about it as an entire menu overhaul. But it does not have to look like this, especially if you are just getting started. Without changing your whole menu, it is fairly simple to add seasonal fruits and vegetables to the meals that you are already making. Seasonal vegetables make nice sides, while fruits eaten plain, or made into a pie, or other desserts can be a yummy treat. Later, as you grow more comfortable with seasonal cooking, you may want to try a recipe or two that really features a seasonal food, such as stuffed peppers or zucchini lasagna, but if you are just getting started you may just want to stick with the basics.
Grow some food.
Growing or raising at least some element of your food is perhaps the best way to eat seasonally. Of course, this is easier if you have gardened in the past, or if you have a large space to use for gardening, but even if you live in a city and have no yard, there are creative ways to find space for at least a little garden. You might consider growing a few herbs or tomatoes if you have an apartment balcony or look into community gardens in your area. Gardening is good for you both physically and mentally, not to mention the yummy and healthy food you can grow. Some people even use hydroponic grow lights to grow plants indoors. I have not personally tried this, but it is definitely a creative way to grow some vegetables. Although I have only begun to preserve in small amounts, and am definitely still learning in this area, my garden and apple trees give me an abundance of produce during the later part of the summer, and often I can get away with buying very little produce from the store during this time.
Buy seasonal items at the grocery store or farmers markets.
During the summer, there are usually ways to buy seasonal fruit or vegetables in bulk for preservation, or you can simply buy as needed at your local farmers markets. Even grocery stores will often have deals on seasonal produce during the summer, and often it is much more locally sourced than during the wintertime. If you see a particularly good deal somewhere, you can buy extra and preserve it in some way or just enjoy having a lot of it fresh for a little while.
Forage
Although I have only dabbled in this, we have done a small amount of foraging on our own land. For example, our woods are full of wild raspberries which have been fun to pick. We have also found a few other things growing that we have been able to use. If you are getting into foraging, just be aware that edible plants can often look very similar to plants that are poisonous, and so it is extremely important to be really sure about what you are using.
Use things that you have preserved.
One thing that can be really easy to do once you have preserved the bounty of the growing season, is to forget to use it, because of being accustomed to just buying things from the store. I have definitely forgotten about certain things we have preserved and found them again the next summer when I will soon have a fresh batch. Part of this involves a mindset shift between grabbing whatever we feel like eating from the grocery store, and instead using what we already have on hand.
Celebrate: Have fun incorporating the seasons into your cooking
Food has always been an element of celebration – little celebrations and big. After all, even the small gathering of your family around the table for a home cooked meal, however simple, can be a means of both rest (restoration) and celebration. It can be easy to lose sight of this in the sheer repetitiveness of meals, but in some small way, if we allow ourselves to focus on the moment at hand, each meal can be elevated and enjoyed, no matter how simple it is. Life can be so busy and fast paced, that our families can end up tired and frazzled. Let your table be a gathering place of nourishment and rest and celebration.
