Hopefully if you are reading this blog post you have already read my two other posts, why seasonal cuisine? And What is Seasonal Eating?
To recap, I spent some time in the previous articles highlighting why it is beneficial to switch to this type of cuisine. The main take-a-ways here are flavor, higher nutritional content ( since the food is traveling less you are consuming it closer to harvest therefor highest nutritional point) and minimal pesticides and preservatives. Since pesticides and preservatives are the main causes of allergies and gut microbiome problems you can see why you would want your dollars going to..well just less of that!
You don’t need to be vegan
Now let me be clear, I love food and all foods. I think it is very important when we discuss environment and social impact that we do not assume we are talking about just plants and we are in no way trying to get people to become vegetarians or vegans.
Seasonal eating does not only apply to plants, it also applies to animals, fish and beverages. I will make a separate post about that and link it here when I complete it.
Supermaket madness
The initial break up from society and seasonal eating happened in 1916 when the first supermarket opened in America, a Piggly Wiggly in Memphis.
Before this time shoppers would make rounds at specialized stores. You would go to butcher for all your meats, a fish monger for anything seafood, or a baker for your bread and sweets. When the supermarket came to town, the aim was to cut costs to the customer and get everything you need in one trip.
Of course this sounds amazingly convenient and it’s clear to see how the concept exploded!
How is this bad?
Fast forward to today and this awesome fast tracked process has now turned a little sour. Grocery chains worked hard to give us low prices but, in the process bad things happened to the environment and to the food.
On the environmental end we now have government subsidies, farmers unable grow food or raise meat they way they want to. Soil depletion leading to less nutrients per produce item, animals are being treated inhumanely. All of this has manifested in green house gasses and humans getting sick from inappropriate farming practices.
From a food perspective now we have a ton of artificial products inside our foods. Shelf stabilizers, chemical sugars, and quite frankly cheap processing that directly correlates to allergies. While at first the addition of cheaper ingredients made for savings as the customer, it has now taken a left turn and we have products on our shelves that technically aren’t event food! Just a mix of chemicals posing as substance.
What can I do?
Customers like us can make a change! Through our spending habits we can tell large grocery stores that we only want local grown products by buying from small and local brands. We can effect change in meats from purchasing only from farmers who treat their animals humanely. A quick google search of your favorite brands will tell you whether or not you need to adjust your purchasing strategy.
We all want the same things here. We want to eat foods that taste great and makes us feel better! We want animals and plants and other humans to be happy during the process. And we want to know that our money is being used to create good things.
If you are a nerd type like me here is an awesome academic flow chart detailing the how local and seasonal food enhances sustainable consumption.
Remember change is always possible and it starts with you!
Thank you so much for taking some time to read my thoughts on how society and seasonal eating come together.
If you would like to learn more about seasonal eating and how it can benefit you contact us today and chat with Chef Mayari on creating a prepared meal plan that works for you.