Quote of the Day: Jessica Prentice
“What if I had simply grown up in a time when food was seasonal? When there was, in each year, a time of more and a time of less? When food was not just there in packages on the supermarket shelf all year?”
– Jessica Prentice from Full Moon Feast: Food and the Hunger for Connection
Right now I’m hungering for asparagus. Every couple days I check the patch for signs of spears peeking out of the soil, every day I see nothing. It shouldn’t be too much longer, but it seems like it’s taking forever.
To me asparagus is the epitome of seasonal food, it really is best picked and eaten right away. There is a definite season for asparagus and I only eat it during this time unless I’m visiting someone who serves it. I love food that has such a short season and so long in between, it makes those few short weeks of gluttony so much sweeter!
What vegetable do you see as the quintessential season food?
Filed under Around the Garden, Edible, Quote | Comments (8)
I’ve been sneaking a spear of asparagus here and there for the past week, and last night we finally had enough to eat cooked at dinner. Oh man, that’s so, so good.
The most-anticipated seasonal treat for me is strawberries. I don’t grow them–yet–but I also don’t buy them except from the pick-your-own farm nearby. When they’re in season, we get buckets and buckets of them. Most of them, of course, are frozen or made into jam, but the fresh ones? Such a short-lived but amazing food.
to kristin @ going country's comment
I agree with you… asparagus is one of them… but also straight-neck squash, tomatoes, and apples are also especially seasonal for me..
I do put tomatoes and squash up in canning jars and I keep a crisper full of apples during the winter… but I dont buy fresh of any of these after they’ve been thru their season here in Ohio.
to KimH's comment
Susy, seasonal eating was the norm when I grew up. The food I waited for every year was sweet corn. In the early days of my life there were no special hybrid kinds of sweet corn. It was just regular field corn picked at the blister stage. Still today I don’t really care for the watery sweet corn but the substantial chewy sweet corn. Most of my family and friends were drooling in anticipation of that first shipment of Texas water melons, or Missouri peaches. There still is nothing like a fresh peach that runs juice down your chin when bitten or a strawberry that explodes with juicy flavor in your mouth. Ah, those were the days when one taste was finished another came into season.
Asparagus, Morel mushrooms, rhubarb, blackberries, raspberries, gooseberries, persimmons, and a myriad of other things were foraged during their season. Half the fun was finding and harvesting the foraged berries. A huge change in food eating habits has happened over the last 60 years. It’s a sad thing. The wise words of Crocodile Dundee explain our fresh food system best, “You can live on it but it tastes like crap.” :-)
Have a great Jessica Prentice day.
to Nebraska Dave's comment
So many firsts when you garden! Last night we had our first spring radish in our salad. The first BLT is pretty cherished around here too :)
to Sara's comment
We re always excited for the asparagus to pop up. We now have two beds and harvest a lot of this beautiful vegetable. When in season, we eat it every day and freeze some for those gloomy days of winter. A couple of our grown children are planning planting beds of their own. What a wonderful tradition to pass on.
to judym's comment
Raspberries. I don’t buy raspberries because you can’t really wash them clean. So I only eat what I picked myself.
I haven’t had raspberries in 5 years until I found a PYO patch and later planted some canes in my community garden plot.
to Lucy's comment
This is my second year with asparagus and they came up much more plentiful! I won’t harvest until next spring… it is hard to wait, but rewarding too
to PennyAshevilleNC's comment
Fiddleheads, asparagus, rhubarb and wild mushrooms come to mine first. I do dehydrate chanterelles for use in winter soups but in general like mushrooms only when fresh.
to Robin's comment