Seasonal food

What are your favourite fruits and veggies?

Do you know when they're in season?

Do you know where the food in your cupboard has come from?

There are so many different foods on offer in our shops and supermarkets today that we are used to having whatever we want, whenever we want. But most of us rarely take the time to stop and think of the journey that food has made before reaching our shopping baskets. The food you buy may have travelled halfway across the world for your culinary pleasure.

The term 'food miles' refers to how far food has travelled from source to shop. The more the food miles, the more the emissions of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, and air pollutants associated with transport of that food. On top of the energy used and emissions released during transport, transporting food also uses lots of energy in terms of refrigeration and transported fruit and veg are often picked when under-ripe then artificially ripened at their destination. These processes use a lot of energy, which is greatly reduced when you buy local food (and by local I mean as close to home as possible, but primarily within your home country!).

Due to the changing season, it's not possible to buy certain fruit and veg All year round. But the plus side is it's better for the environment, *tastes* better and helps you have a varied diet!

There are a lot of handy resources to see what's in season each month. I particularly like BBC's seasonality table (bbcgoodfood.com/seasonal-calendar) as you can click on any item to see info on how to store and prepare it and see suggested recipes. Eat Seasonably have made this handy calendar to keep you informed of what's in Season:

So it's time to chow down on some delicious seasonal goods!

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