Blog #9 What's in Season?!

Americans are very far removed from our foods. My mom stressed fresh fruits and vegetables growing up, so I was the weirdo who always had some kind of fruit on hand for a snack rather than chips or cookies. Even when we eat fruits and vegetables we don't know the seasons of what's available. Because of technology and transportation like the refrigerator and trains, food can be preserved longer and come from farther away. I could go to a grocery store and find berries all year round. There are a few indications of seasonality though. One: Prices. It is more expensive to get strawberries in the winter. two: quality/taste. Keeping to the strawberries example, strawberries are more red, plump, juicy, and sweeter when they are in season around June or July. Here is a small list of when foods are in season by month.

Italians are very knowledgeable about the seasonality of foods. Markets and grocery stores sell only what is in season and always write where the produce is from. I had wanted to get red grapes in the winter and they were no longer in season in Italy, however in Spain they apparently were still being grown. The grapes I'd gotten were delicious, but sub-par compared to the ones I'd gotten earlier in the semester. Peaches were sold all over the place at the beginning of the semester in early September, but a few weeks later you could not find a single peach. Some restaurants have different menus that come out depending on what's in season and they will refuse to serve you something not in season. For our class dinner, our professor had wanted us to try artichokes, but they are not in season yet. The restaurant made it certain that we could not have it, and they were not making it yet.

In the past it was a sign of status if you could get food outside of the season. One case was someone who had brought strawberries when it was out of season. Of course these strawberries were probably not very good nor did they look like bright red strawberries, but the physical strawberries were more important and grandiose than the actual quality. I imagine the strawberries looked like these white strawberries that are now a scientifically engineered food that is weird, but interesting. 

Nowadays there is more push to go back to the ingredients and to know more about your foods. This is evident in the various diet fads and the growing popularity of farmers markets. There is also the Slow Foods movement, which is more against globalizing fast food chains and trying to focus on the ingredients and community grown produce. 

Although you don't have to diet, religiously buy only from farmers markets, or get behind a movement, it is still nice to be aware of your food and when it is best to eat it. It's also great to grow an awareness towards fresh foods and not completely away, but more disinclined towards packaged foods. One thing that will need to happen to make this possible though, would be the lowering of prices for fresh produce. In the US you can buy a lot more packaged food for less. Here in Italy though, I've found fresh food to be relatively cheap and easy to buy on a student budget. Also in Italy you have more choice on the quantity of food you purchase whereas in America it's less so. I can buy 3 apples in Italy but I'd have to buy a bag of apples, usually 5-7, in America. These are little things that I've noticed, but they might make a big difference.