Healthy Vegetables

Rhubarb in the Paleo Works Garden

Supermarkets would have us believe that variety is being able to walk into a store and buy any and every agricultural product you can think of day in, day out 365 days of the year.

The problem with this is…it becomes boring.  Food becomes monotonous (again).  The variety of food never seems to change and inspiration can easily fade.  This is not the way nature intended.  Food variety should be driven by the seasons.  This is how we used to eat.  We would fill up on produce in season, eat it and bottle in and can it and store it and eat it again to the point where we thought we would never wish to ever eat it again and then the season would turn and a new variety would ripen and the cycle would begin all over again.

In this way food becomes exciting and our meals become invigorating.  Our diet is continually changing and we are feasting on foods that suit that time of year and the weather.

Like purple blackberries in autumn, fresh green asparagus and fiery watercress in spring, pumpkins, squash and fennel late summer and the sweet orangey tang of clementines at Christmas.

Last night we noticed this out the window of our back kitchen!  All through the winter months it has tended itself and kept hidden only to push through in April to provide a bumper crop for the next weeks.  And as we write, the cycle continues.

Shop local, keep to small-scale producers and independent food.  Check out your local veg box supplier.  In this way you will get back in touch with the seasonal quality of food.  The way nature intended!

In May, look out for elderflowers, outdoor rhubarb, asparagus, beetroot, radishes, wild rocket and watercress to season and flavor your foods.  In June the season is turning through to summer and you will find blackcurrants, cherries, gooseberries, loganberries, carrots, cucumber and turnips to add to May’s delights.

And keep it real!