• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Oh My Veggies logo

  • Recipes
    • Vegetarian Recipes
    • Vegan Recipes
    • Vegetarian Main Dishes
    • Vegetarian Appetizers
    • Vegetarian Breakfast Recipes
    • Vegetarian Side Dishes
    • Dessert Recipes
    • Snack Recipes
    • Drinks
    • Sauces, Spreads and Condiments
    • Holiday Recipes
    • From our Readers
  • Cooking Tips & Hints
    • Cooking Tips
    • Plant-Based Nutrition
    • Product Reviews
  • Shop Cookbooks
  • About Us
  • Nav Social Menu

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Find Recipes
  • Cookbooks
  • About Us
  • Free Meal Plan
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
  • subscribe
    search icon
    Homepage link
    • Find Recipes
    • Cookbooks
    • About Us
    • Free Meal Plan
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
  • ×

    Oh My Veggies » Plant Based Nutrition & Health

    A Beginner's Guide to Seasonal Eating

    Published: Oct 10, 2017 · by Nicole · Updated: Feb 11, 2022 · This post may contain affiliate links.

    Check out this beginner's guide to seasonal eating if you want to save the planet and eat well at the same time!

    A Beginner's Guide to Seasonal Eating
    Jump to:
    • Think Local
    • Visit Your Farmer's Market
    • Get Involved with a CSA Program
    • Check Out the Produce Aisle
    • Try New Things
    • Read Food Blogs

    Seasonal eating is one health trend that I can whole-heartedly get on board with—but it’s not exactly new. Looking back 100 years ago, nobody would have called it seasonal eating. It was just eating what was on hand, ripe, and ready to go!

    Seasonal eating is an outstandingly simple food philosophy at its core, yet we’ve complicated it with decades of operating within a gloablized food system. Go into any supermarket in the dead of winter and what would you find? Tomatoes? No problem. Grapes? You bet. Fresh strawberries? Absolutely. Whether grown in a hothouse or shipped half way around the world, we’ve become completely accustomed to seasonless eating. In this sense, seasonal eating is harder than it sounds.

    It doesn’t have to be difficult to eat in season, however, or to eat mostly in season if that’s what works best for your family. Here are some of my favorite ways to work more seasonal eating into my diet.

    Think Local

    At its core, seasonal eating means that you’re eating fresh produce at a time of year when it’s naturally ready for harvest. This means strawberries in June, tomatoes in August, and butternut squash in October. Seasonal eating often goes hand in hand with local eating, since the whole point is reducing your footprint by not trucking food long distances. Usually this means that the produce is harvested at the correct time, when nutrients are at their peak, as opposed to harvesting early so that the produce will better withstand shipping.

    What is available seasonally will largely depend on where you live. If you live in California, you’re going to have a very different range of produce available in the winter months than if you lived in New York. I live in Sweden where the growing season is exceptionally short, so not much is available in the winter months other than long-storage vegetables such as cabbage, potatoes, apples, and carrots. Consult a growing guide to see what’s grown in your area and when it’s in peak season.

    Visit Your Farmer's Market

    Your local farmer’s market is an excellent indicator of what’s in season, and—as an added bonus—you get to chat with the folks who grew your food! The produce stands at the farmers market will usually be groaning with tomatoes and massive zucchinis at the end of summer, winter squash in the autumn months, and kale, potatoes, broccoli, and cabbage in the winter. No matter the time of year, farmer’s market produce is usually much fresher than what you’d find in the grocery store and has often been harvested within the last 24 hours!

    Get Involved with a CSA Program

    CSA—community supported agriculture—programs are another great way to eat in season. The idea is that you pay for a yearly or monthly subscription to a farm or group of farms. In exchange for paying the farmers money up front, you’ll receive a box of produce on a weekly or monthly basis. CSA programs are usually a fun way to learn about what’s in season, and experience fruits and vegetables that you may not have chosen to buy otherwise. It also benefits farmers by helping them pay for their operational costs ahead of time—win win!

    Check Out the Produce Aisle

    Even though supermarkets do carry some of the same foods throughout the year, they also tend to switch up others seasonally. My local supermarket will always carry an abundance of chanterelle mushrooms in the autumn, local asparagus in the spring, and corn in the late summer. Be sure to check the signs so you can check where the produce comes from so you don’t accidentally buy imported strawberries when the local ones are at their peak. Or you can simply ask your grocer where things come from!

    Try New Things

    What’s that weird spiky vegetable you’ve seen a few times but have never tried? Perhaps you’re not familiar with it because it only just came into season. Ask around and open up your mind—and your taste buds.

    Read Food Blogs

    Food blogs tend to follow seasonal food trends, just like the stores do. So if you’re wondering what’s in season and how you should cook it, spend some time perusing your favorite sites for inspiration. Pinterest is another great source for this, with seasonal foods cycling throughout the year.

    Fall produce photo via Shutterstock.

    « 17 Delicious Vegetarian Dinners You Can Make with a Tube of Polenta
    11 Cozy Coffee Drinks You Need to Make This Fall »

    Cooking Tips & Hints, Plant Based Nutrition & Health

    Reader Interactions

    Something to say? Leave a comment. Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    Primary Sidebar

    image of the author

    Nicole is a life long vegetarian and the author of the popular vegan cookbook, Weeknight One Pot Vegan Cooking. She loves sharing her recipes and showing the world just how easy and delicious meatless meals can be!
    Learn more here.

    signature of author

    get a free 5 day vegetarian meal plan

    shop our vegetarian and vegan cookbooks

    Trending Recipes

    • Tasty Vegetarian Pot Pies
    • 35+ Sweet Treats for Valentine’s Day
    • 45+ Vegetarian Recipes for New Year’s Eve
    • 34 Amazing Butternut Squash Recipes

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    • Shop Cookbooks
    • About Us
    • Work with Me
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use

    Still hungry? Check out our delicious family of blogs.

    link to VegKitchen.com - vegan recipes website
    link to deliciouseveryday.com - a vegetarian and vegan recipes website
    link to allshecooks.com - a food blog
    link to wandertooth.com - a travel website

    As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

    Copyright © 2021 Hook & Porter Media

    466 shares