Through time our diet has been modified based on the availability of food, which fortunately has led us to generate a culinary wealth that includes an immense range of ingredients.
Similarly, our gastronomy has been altered by the disappearance of some ingredients, both vegetable and animal, due to environmental degradation.
Nature always gives us what we need, even at the time and conditions that we require, unfortunately we have lost sight of this and little by little we have begun to lose basic and important knowledge of food, for example, how to enrich our diet with it. seasonal food consumption.
In supermarkets or large wineries you can find frozen foods that do not correspond to the current season, which no longer seems unusual to us and we consume all the available foods, but we do not stop to reflect on how it is possible to find strawberries, mangoes, oranges or mandarins throughout the year.
There are many economic, social, environmental and even health benefits; for consuming seasonal foods and below we will list some of them.
Approach the merchants of your locality, who will be able to guide you on what are the seasonal foods. If they are the producers, surely their products were picked at the ideal point of maturation, unlike those sold in supermarkets, which are green and artificially mature in containers. Foods harvested in season regularly maintain their organoleptic qualities such as texture, appearance and flavor. Nature provides us with the food we need in each season, for example, during the winter time we require extra doses of vitamin C, which is why we find oranges and mandarins rich in this nutrient. The price of seasonal fruits and vegetables is usually lower, since it is not required to invest much in their forced growth with special chemicals or structures such as greenhouses. Generally, the out-of-season food plantations are carried out with monoculture techniques, which deplete the soil of its nutrients until it is sterile. When you prefer to consume locally produced food, you support the trade of producers who, with their effort and knowledge, provide you with better food than a supermarket, in addition to supporting the economy of your locality.
Get involved and don't let the knowledge that has been inherited from generation to generation be lost on how to choose ripe fruits and vegetables, learn about their characteristics and even the various ways to prepare them. Remember that this will not only help your economy and health, you will also protect the rich diversity of our natural environment. Visit the local markets!
Frequently asked questions from our readers:
foods fruits tangerines monoculture natural plantations supermarkets season
Last modified: April 14, 2024
