Seasonal and/or local eating, that's the challenge. This is one of the tools I will use. There are twelve squares, one for each month. The little pieces of white you see will be the names of various meals that can be eaten at different times in the year when certain foods are seasonally available. The hope is that this visual aid will help me develop a collection of meals evenly distributed throughout the year.
There are three rows, the first is Nov-Feb, the second is Mar-June and the third is Jul-Oct. I figure that this is a rough way to organize the year. The last row should be the easiest to fill, from July to October there are tons of foods coming into season. While the first row and the second row will be somewhat harder.
I've been thinking a lot about the transistion to seasonal eating and I think I've developed a good way of thinking about it. At first I focused on what I wouldn't be able to have, the restrictions it would place on my consumption. Then I realized that instead of focusing on what I would lose, I should focus on how to enjoy what was available.
So when strawberries come into season shortly I want to try and shift our diet to consisting of a lot more strawberries. No grapes or pears or apples say. But strawberries. Eat them on your waffles, make muffins, have chilled strawberry soup. Enjoy them while they're here. I plan on taking the kids and picking a bunch locally and also making preserves (to enjoy when they are out of season). When strawberry season passes, let it go and move on to the next item and enjoy it fully.
We have a ways to go before we're eating seasonally. Indeed right now I'm just trying out lots of different recipes to find out what we like and any successes will make their way to the wall above. My goal is that by (or hopefully well before) this time next year that we will be eating seasonally.
Do you eat seasonally? How long did it take? What were your experiences? Your sources? I'd love to hear your thoughts.
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