NutritionQuarterly_Summer2020

To circle back to my opening statements, a great first step to eating seasonally is to eat locally. Apart from the benefit to the local economy, if you shop at local markets and get to know the people that you’re buying your food from, you’d be amazed at the networks that you can tap into. For a number of years, I was a member of a local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) for produce. You buy a share at the beginning of the season and you get a share of the produce that is, um… produced throughout the harvest. Green beans, beets, strawberries, whatever is in season at the moment. The operators at the CSA knew lots of local pig farmers, chicken farmers and orchards through their larger food-producing community. The result was that I got access to amazing local free- range chicken, smoked bacon and a greater variety of foods than I likely would have eaten otherwise. I even took a partial share in a tree-fruit CSA and got pears that rivaled the amazing pears from Harry & David’s that people send me over the holidays. Supply logistics have always made it the case in rural areas, but now most big cities have chefs that have embraced the Farm-to-Table ideal and are producing seasonal menus to the delight of urban foodies. Finding these types of venues makes it a lot easier to follow a seasonal eating diet when you’re out and about. All in all, I hate to tell anyone to exclude things from their diets. I usually suggest adding more “good choices” and let the poorer choices take care of themselves. So start adding more local, seasonal food to your diet and drop me a line to let me know how you feel. Maybe I’ll run into you at the CSA. Owen Rothstein is a Foodie & Nutrition Enthusiast. Nutrition Quarterly · 2020 – Volume 3 16 The Good Life