seasonal eating in a snowpocalypse

Okay, here’s where eating seasonally gets rough.

Its winter.  As in, uber winter, Snowpocalypse 2011 winter.

It’s rough out there, and no, I am not going to ask for your sympathy because I was forced to eat my fro-yo at 45°F temperatures the other night, bbbrrr, poor me! (BTW: cookie dough bits, excellent addition to the frozen yogurt cup). My step-ish dad & step-ish brother drove to Texas the other day, it’s freaking 13° down there. What the? How is anything in season you ask?

Cold storage. Preservation. California. Florida. South & Central America.
The dead cold of winter is a good time of year to learn a new idea for some. I always love a new word or concept to dive into, don’t you? The dwindling end of winter is a great time to learn & practice: Foodshedding.

Those of you that read Omnivore’s Dilemma will have heard the term. It is often a hard concept to sell to people. It is sort of like how this woman on the radio yesterday when asked, “religiously speaking, is sex okay according to the bible?”

Her answer, “Let’s just say yes. Yes and No, but let’s say, Yes.”

I spend all year long touting the importance of eating locally. It’s the best way to ensure you are getting the most healthful fresh, and super-tasty-perfectly-ripe food, that’s the from the selfish Me standpoint. It’s also the best way to ensure you are supporting a diverse, active local economy. That’s the community me talking.

Nevertheless, in all honesty, it’s nearly impossible to eat 100%local. That’s why it’s called a Locavore Challenge. That’s why people write books about it, it is HARD. The main outcome from such an endeavour is appreciation. Depending on where you live, you will not have sugar, coffee, kiwi fruit, bananas, good wine, many herbs. And really, how long can you go without chocolate? Let us all be honest here.

The concept of foodshedding is to purchase wisely. To offset the carbon print of an imported good with the purchases of local goods. Or, as local as you can get. To purchase things in their natural season, even if the food is from the tropics.
To try and purchase organic, artisan, heirloom, and/or sustainably sourced items whenever possible. If given the choice of an American prosciutto or an Italian one, in winter, I’ll buy American. Because I am also purchasing bananas from Chile and apple butter from Washington and honey & dried beans from a local farm.

In foodshedding we don’t have to eschew our ideals to make it through the winter, we have to adjust our habits. Incorporate dried & preserved items, embrace the potato, relish in the citrus from our coastal counties, commit to eating tropical fruit only in their season, which is, thanks be to the harvest moon, in Winter.

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