Conscious Consumerism

A Beginner's Guide to Eating in Season

October 1, 2024

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Enjoy tastier, fresher, and more sustainable produce when you shop and eat in season.

Looking for ways to make sustainability more fun—tastier, perhaps? Meet us at the farmers’ market because it’s time to start eating in season! In short, eating seasonally means choosing to shop, cook, and eat produce that would naturally grow and thrive in the same season you’re in. Why do it? For starters, it’s significantly more delicious (trust us), and perhaps most importantly it’s better for you, better for the earth, and better for those who tend the soil. Here’s why:

Better for You

If you have the means to do it, eating the freshest possible produce means denser nutrients with every bite! Almost all produce will slowly but surely lose vitamin content over time, starting as soon as the day it's harvested, so the faster it goes from farm to table the better. If a farmers’ market isn’t an easy or accessible option for you, frozen and canned produce can be sourced in-season and frozen or preserved in time to maintain its nutritional value.

Better for Planet

Not so fun fact: By the time you shop, the average grocery store apple was picked from its tree more than 9 months ago… When there’s demand for out-of-season produce, food suppliers and grocery stores will do what’s necessary to sell. That means your favorite off-season fruit or vegetable is likely treated with potentially unsafe preservatives and stored for months at a time, wasting energy. It’s also often imported from far-off places, contributing to high transport emissions.

Better for Farmers

When you shop local, in-season produce at a farmers’ market—or a grocery store that partners directly with local farms—you’re eliminating the many middle men of the modern food chain and investing directly back into the hands that (literally!) feed you! Planting crops in line with the seasons also promotes essential biodiversity in our ecosystem—and while planting the same crop over and over in the same location eventually depletes the soil of its natural resources and minerals, allowing farmers to align with the natural seasons keeps their crops healthy and sustainable over a longer period of time!