Josh and I received our second basket of produce from our amazing CSA farm- Mason Creek Farms out of Fayetteville, Arkansas. Since the recent devastating floods in the region, we missed a few weeks due to damages; however, lots of yummy veggies and fruits were saved and Josh and I were able to enjoy the spoils of our CSA share.
In the basket we received:
2 bags of salad greens (best I've ever had!)
Carrots
Philadelphia white box radishes
Shiitakes mushrooms
Sorrell
Salad is coming out my ears and my lunches are packed full of fresh veggies. The bag 'o' mushrooms was ridiculously huge and I ended up giving half of them to a friend. I haven't really touched the radishes much; I'm not the biggest fan of radish in my salads and I'm not quite sure how to cook with them. As for the carrots, I don't think I could ever go back to non-organic carrots again. The flavor, the crisp, the color... holy yum!
Eating through my CSA has got me thinking a lot more about eating locally and seasonally. I have been eyeing the book Clean Food by Terry Walters which is actually more than just a 'cookbook':
"CLEAN FOOD is an encouraging, easy-to-understand guide to eating closer to the source and benefiting from the rich nutritional profile of the freshest, in-season, locally grown ingredients. " (source)
Due to world-wide distributions and modern processing, we rarely think about eating produce that are in season. The grocery store shelves look the same in January as they do in June. By choosing to eat seasonally (weather you are apart of a CSA or not) you receive the utmost health and nutritional benefit from your produce (source). Plus, in-season food is packed full of much more flavor.
So next time you are browsing through the produce section, imagine what your ancestors would think as you pick up that watermelon in April or that corn-on-the-cob in February. Now don't get me wrong, a non-season veggie is better than no veggie at all, but stop and think about what you are actually putting into your body. Make a conscious decision to choose health over convenience.
Have you read Clean Food? What are your thoughts on eating seasonally and locally?
I've never read Clean Food, but I love the idea of eating seasonally/locally. Unfortunately, living in New England most of my life, that's not an option. Here in Asheville though, it is - wooooot!
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