The Benefits Of Eating Seasonal Veggies

We've mentioned it a fair bit, but what does eating seasonally actually mean?

Just like the weather (in fact, because of the weather), plants have seasons.

Late spring, summer and autumn are the seasons of abundance: most of our delicious veggies have the right conditions to grow well. 

Winter… well, things get tricky in winter. It's cold, it's wet, there's not always a lot of sunlight, so our crops don't grow at quite the same rate and only the hardiest one's cope with the frost.

Because we live in a country where some fruits and vegetables don't grow all year round, eating seasonally essentially means consuming fruit and veggies that are growing at that time of year.

The benefits of seasonal eating are three-fold: the vegetables tend to have a higher nutritive value, they're generally cheaper, and it's more environmentally friendly.

Eating seasonal produce tends to mean you're purchasing your goods from local growers. Those veggies haven't travelled the world to land on your plate; they haven't been subject to cold storage to prevent degradation (because they don't need it, of course!); they were probably harvested within the last 4 days, rather than months ago.

All these factors combined make for lower costs to get the produce to your local vendor, translating to lower prices for you as a consumer. Buying produce straight from the farm (think farmers markets, veggie boxes, etc) takes out the middle man, meaning you get even more bang for your buck!

Not only does eating seasonally cut down the food bill, eating fresh local produce tends to mean better nutrition: those crops were harvested when in their prime - which was probably yesterday!

Crops hailing from overseas are often harvested before they ripen (to reduce the risk of spoiling whilst in transit) which can mean those fruits and veggies don't develop their full flavour and true nutrient potential.

Plus, transporting food crops hundreds of kilometers comes at a huge cost to our delicate environment. Supporting local farmers means minimal carbon emissions to get those lovely veggies from the paddock to your plate.

So go on, head down to your local farmers market this weekend and see what's in season!