Food in Season – Meat Has a Season Too!

Eating Food in Season Has Massive Benefits for You!

 

We know that eating food in season is very eco-friendly.  For many farmers, getting supply to match demand is a big challenge.  Because we (customers) don’t eat food in season – if we want pork and eggs and strawberries, we want them now.

We seem to have lost the synergism between season, farmer and customer.

Tremendous money and effort is expended maintaining production anti-seasonally, because we don’t like to eat food in season.

All food has a season – fruit, vegetables and even meat, poultry and fish.  Yet instead of eating food in season – and saving money while buying better quality – we eat whatever we like, whenever we feel like it.

This has massive implications for the food industry, the economy, and our reliance on distant sources of food, even if we grow locally.

 

Why Not Eating Food in Season Skews Everything

Here’s an example of how skewed our food production has become – because we don’t buy food in season.

Every year, just before frost, tomatoes produce bountifully.  But instead of jumping on this last gift of summer and canning all the excess for winter, the industry — including the organic industry — concentrates on how to make sure fresh tomatoes are on the supermarket shelves in January, even when that requires shipping them in from 2,000 miles away.   As I understand it, the local tomato flood gets composted, fed to pigs or just thrown out in heaps. What a waste!

If all the effort expended to get fresh tomatoes on supermarket shelves in January in Portland, Maine for example, was invested into fully utilizing the late August tomato flood, it would revolutionize our food system.

Not only would it improve our nutrition, it would recycle dollars into our communities, and free us individually and collectively from far-away food dependency.

Could it be the difference between local farmers making enough to get by, and making enough to encourage the next generation into farming?

 

Meat is Seasonal Too?

Food in Season - MeatYes, we don’t often think about it, but meat is best in certain seasons, just as fruit and vegetables are.

When are the deer fattest in your area?  Going into winter.

Forage-fattened beef is also best in the fall / autumn.  Once the frost has killed flies and sweetened the grass, cows are more comfortable than at any other time of the year. They naturally ramp up their forage intake and gain fat in order to get through the lean, hard winter.

 

So, how can you benefit?

Ask a local farmer what he or she routinely has in excess, and then buy and use it. He or she will love you for it, and if you buy in bulk you can get wonderful quality fresh food at a lower cost.

With beef and venison in season now in the northern hemisphere, it’s time to buy in bulk, save money, and have a freezer with top-quality meat in abundance throughout the winter!

 

In season in October in the US & Canada:

duck, lamb, partridge, pheasant, rabbit, venison

clams, mussels, scallops

In season in October in the UK:

Beef, chicken, pork, turkey, duck, guinea fowl, grouse, partridge, pheasant, venison

Cockles, cod, dab, dover sole, herring, langoustine, prawns, crab, eel, lobster, mackerel, mussels, oysters, plaice, scallops, turbot

(And, although they’re imported, truffles are now in season).

 

With a small amount of planning, you can take advantage of seasonal bounty, save money, and enjoy quality meat, fish, fruit and vegetables throughout the year, simply by buying and freezing.


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  • Clare, what interesting points on what foods are in season and ecofriendly
    Scott Sylvan Bell

  • What a simple idea, to ask your supplier what they have in season and in excess…One thing I noticed when I worked at the Farmers Market in Minnesota was the great deal of communication between buyer and seller. This worked to everyone’s advantage! And the left overs all went to Second Harvest, at the end of the weekend,which went to the Homeless Shelters!
    Sonya Lenzo

  • Hi Green Goddess,

    Other than the availability of Lamb for Roast Lamb as the traditional Easter Dinner or its inclusion as part of the traditional Jewish Seder Meal (not to be eaten but included as I recall), I had not previously given much thought to Meat having a season to it, but that certainly does make great sense. Thank you for educating us!

    Happy Dating and Relationships,

    April Braswell

  • Hi Clare,

    Great information. I really had no idea what you meant in your last post about meat having a season but now I get it. Thanks

  • Duck and lamb are about my 2 favorites so good to know it’s time to fill the deep freeze. That’s looking out for us.

  • Phenomenal article! I really appreciate you taking the time to let us know what meats are in season for us in October. So I guess this month, both Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck were right ( Duck Season … Rabbit Season …. what can I say, I grew up on Loony Toons 🙂 ).

    Stay Amazing and Do Great Things, Neil

  • As a farmer’s son I know a little about this when I really think about it (been a few years). Definitely on the ‘wild’ animal season, hunting and fishing very much have their own seasons. Grouse, duck, salmon etc. ‘Normal’ beef takes a bit more imagination to see this but when I think about it, I definitely get it.

  • Hi Clare!
    Thanks for expalining in this post what kind of meat is better for each season. I guess Spain and UK must be very similar but I will ask at the market anyway

  • Hi Clare,
    I’m embarrassed that I’m a chef and didn’t know this about meat! It seems when I worked in the restaurant business that we were able to get meat any ‘ole time. Now that I think about it, it makes perfect sense and I’ll be more aware next time I shop.

  • Meat has a season? Who knew? But you know I almost instinctively eat less meat in the warmer months. Interesting article.
    Thanks,
    Suzanne
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