The Seasonality of Food

Why follow the seasonality of foods?

Always eating seasonal fruit and vegetables means having a diet that varies from month to month. Nature offers us different products every month, such as he strawberry season and the artichoke season in spring.
By doing so at any time of the year we have what we need: in summer, when it is very hot, seasonal fruit and vegetables are rich in water and mineral salts. While, during the winter, fruits and vegetables are rich in vitamin C.
Now we can easily find cherries at Christmas or oranges in summer. For this reason, it is difficult to distinguish what is in season and what is not.
Furthermore, consumers, for convenience, always buy the same vegetables. This is because the whole family, including children, like them. For example, courgettes, aubergines, and tomatoes are summer side dishes. For this reason, they are good in summer, not in winter.

Is the definition of seasonal strict?

Eating off-season produce occasionally is not a problem. Also, you must be flexible. The tomato, for example, is a summer vegetable. But this does not mean that October is out of season.
The ripeness of fruit and vegetables depends on many factors. Among these factors we have the climate

The benefits of eating according to season

The benefits of eating according to the seasonality of foods are many. In addition to being good for our health, it is also a way to save.
The cost of non-seasonal products is always quite high. This is because the cost of greenhouse production must be added to the original cost.
The products are often collected according to their seasonality and then stored in cold rooms to preserve them. For example, the apple season is between August and October. This means that the apples are harvested and then stored in cells where their ripening is slowed down. However, the flavor of an apple will vary depending on the season in which it is eaten.
Maintaining cold rooms also costs money. 
Obviously, an important reason for following seasonality concerns taste: a tomato, a seasonal vegetable in the summer, eaten during the winter will have a different flavor. This happens because low temperatures reduce the chemicals that make tomatoes taste. Furthermore, the reduction in taste leads to the abuse of condiments such as salt, oil or other.

Respect for the environment

Finally, another reason to eat seasonal food is the respect of the ‘ ambient and. Growing products out of season involves resorting to greenhouses. The operation of greenhouses obviously requires heating and energy which often have a high environmental cost.
Added to this problem is the fact that greenhouses are rich in humidity. Humidity leads to the proliferation of bacteria, which are fought with pesticides and fertilizers.
In recent years, greenhouse production has improved to reduce both the environmental impact and the use of pesticides and fertilizers. Obviously, this does not detract from the benefits of seasonal products, which should be preferred.
Always keeping an eye on any allergies.

Below is an illustration of a seasonal fruit and vegetable calendar and a seasonal seafood calendar.

SEASONAL FRUIT AND VEGETABLE TABLE

FISH SEASONALITY TABLE