Topic 1- What is seasonal eating?

(NOTE- this first is an overarching question. The next post will talk about the books themselves in earnest.)

Okay, so here we have the first books I've cracked this year- one I've read before (Momofuku), and one that's brand spankin' new (Eleven Madison Park). Here we have two very different restaurants in just about every aspect- style and ambiance, origins of cuisine, and flow of the restaurant (or in Momofuku's case, plural restaurants), even how the chef commands the kitchen (David Chang is notorious for his rages, while Daniel Humm is portrayed as a much quieter chef, at least so far as the book is concerned). However, one thing both chefs have a big appreciation for is eating seasonally- David Chang is adamant about local produce in season, and Daniel Humm changes his menu with the season, sometimes multiple times to reflect the changes in produce. 

What is eating seasonally, you ask?

Well, eating seasonally is eating and utilizing produce and all food when it's in its natural growing season or time of flourish. In layman's terms, getting what's good, when it's good. Sounds easy, right?

Well, not so much. Can you tell me off the top of your head when the growing season is for string beans? How about cantaloupe? Tomatoes? (Okay, maybe that one). Now this isn't because this info is hard to pick up. We just, to a degree, stopped caring. With the advent of the super-market, industrial greenhouses, and transcontinental shipping, we now have tomatoes in December, peaches in April, and honeydew year-round.

The one big problem? They suck.

And not just a little, either. Those of us in MD who've had a honest-to-goodness local farm grown Maryland tomato know just how much the supermarket stuff sucks. By comparison, our December tomato is absolutely flavorless. The problem is not enough of us know. Most of us grew up on that flavorless tomato, that factory farmed pork chop, and that flavorless cantaloupe, oblivious to what else is around us.

Now I know what you guys and girls are saying- "but what if we want, say, a tomato caprese salad in mid-winter?" (I know I'm belaboring the tomato point, but it's absolutely the most common produce complaint I hear as a cook). Well... You may just have to do without. If you know what you make is going to be sub-par and unsatisfying, why would you make it, wasting your time and money for something half-ass?

Now this isn't to say we can't enjoy out of season produce at all, just not in raw form. Why not try your hand at canning (blanket term- it also means storing in jars) all that tasty stuff, so you have that fresh tomato taste for a wintertime pasta, or preserved apricots for cakes or breakfasts in February? Jars are inexpensive and easy to find and use. If you have a little extra cash to burn and get a foodsaver or other vaccum-sealer, by all means do so! (seriously, they're great.)

"But," you may ask, "Even when I buy a supermarket tomato in summer, it's still the same! What gives?" Well, the supermarket generally doesn't change where they get their stuff from based on the season (though thankfully, this is changing in some markets). You're better off perusing your local farmer's market to get the best of what's around.  You may notice a marked change in some supermarket items' quality when you buy them in season (which is great), but others grown factory farm-style in greenhouses with the same nutrient mix as every other veggie or fruit grown in said greenhouses will not (which is not great).

Okay, so obviously I'm a fan of the whole seasonal eating thing, which to a sizeable degree means I also try to eat local whenever I can. Eating local is an additional aspect to easting seasonally, but allows you to really score the good stuff- without a doubt the best tasting, best quality, and least damaged (hey, less time in transit means less time bouncing around getting bruised in a crate) stuff out there. On top of that, you get to support local business. Good stuff all around!

However, here's the counterpoint- If not for the supermarket, How many of us could have had a pineapple? A passion-fruit? Hell, even a lemon or lime? The fact of the matter is that some things we consider common come from a ways away... Places that, to be fair, there's much more consistent weather and thus longer growing seasons. Do seasons matter as much for these items since they can be grown mostly year round, and shipped with little to no degradation in quality?

My position? The things that I can get locally in-season, I eat while they're around and do without when they aren't, or preserve for out of season use. The things I can't get locally at all? I buy them where I can with no guilt. In my mind, I'm responsibly expanding my culinary horizons that otherwise would not have the experience at all.

What are your thoughts? Do you try to eat seasonal, or actively think the supermarket is a better alternative? Or both? Where does money fit into all this?

One thing, though... This June, you guys and gals should find a ripe cantaloupe from a local market, slice it open, take a deep whiff, and take a bite. It'll change your life.

New year's resolutions.

Hello, foodies!

So I have several new years resolutions this year. One is to go through all my philosophical, religious, and cooking books and texts to try and get new perspective on them. Now while I've found discussing religion or philosophy on facebook or the blogosphere is usually asking for trouble, food may be a more accessible topic. Another of my big resolutions is to get this blog back up and running on the regular, and while I certainly will continue will describing individual techniques, I'd also like to get a larger sense of q&a and people's curiosity. As I go through each cookbook or two, I'd like to use whatever style, focus, or type of cooking the book conveys to fuel either the subject for discussion or the techniques/recipes to be covered, or both. From that I hope to get some good food for thought (HEY-O). For all my friends in the professional cooking world, the home cooking world, the foodie world, blogosphere, or just my friends interested with something to say... This is intended as open forum entirely, and all constructive input is welcome.