Once upon a time there were seasonal products..

Ciao guys, how special!

This is my first official blog post, where I want to start talking to you about something that can make you curious, just as it has made me.

I want to write something that makes parents reflect, as they are very close to my work reality since I work as a cooking teacher in several elementary schools, but also something that can offer food for thought for those who, like me, don't have children. But have the curiosity to learn something new about something we see every day.

I don’t know how old you are, dear reader, but maybe this memory of mine will stir something in you too.

I am 30 years old, and when I was a young girl, going grocery with my mum meant something when it came to seasonal vegetables.
I remember that at the supermarket, you couldn’t find an aubergine in January—it was simply impossible.
Bananas were there, but strawberries in October? No way.
Maybe, just maybe, you could find them in the frozen section, at an exorbitant price, and my mum wouldn’t buy them anyway because… what would you do with strawberries in October?

Back then, you didn’t have to try to figure out why you didn’t eat strawberries in October or aubergine in January, because it was so obvious that you just saw it around you and automatically learned it.

I was lucky enough to take care of my grandmother’s vegetable garden until I started high school, so I instinctively knew that in summer, you may only eat kilos and kilos of zucchini because it’s a vegetable that grows abundantly thanks to the summer sun. And no, I wasn’t always happy to eat zucchini for weeks, but to me, it made sense.

The earth has its own timing, and sometimes it’s very slow, but it’s thanks to this slowness that we learn to appreciate it.
There’s an endless, delicate dance between the seasons and the fruits they yield, and recognizing this today is truly a gift.

Nature has already thought of everything, and there’s a reason why you couldn’t find those darn strawberries in October.
In the winter months, our bodies need more energy to adapt to seasonal changes, fight the first colds, deal with bad weather, and the darkness that comes with winter.
In summer, we are naturally more energetic because there are more hours of daylight, we are more active and therefore burn more energy, we sweat, and so we need more foods that contain more water to keep us hydrated.

I remember when I used to ask my grandmother why there were no tomatoes in January, only the preserved ones we made together in the summer.
She would always tell me, "Nature sees and provides, and we can only adapt and learn to follow its rhythm."

It’s only been 15 years since these warm memories, yet everything has changed so much that they feel like the plot of a book.
I won’t even go into details because, dear reader, you already know: an eggplant in January is not good.
Eggplants are an anthem to the summer season, and eating a product that has traveled for hours and hours in containers to reach us at low prices from warm countries… well, it hardly has any useful vitamins left. If it even has any!
Because to preserve the ripening of such a vegetable for so long, I can only imagine they harvest it before it’s ripe, and then it matures artificially in containers where there is no sunlight, except for neon lights.

So what can we do?

What can we do if grandmothers no longer explain to us what to eat and when?
What can we do if we live in a city and not in the countryside?
If we don’t have time to observe the seasons because we are distracted by this fast-paced society?
And when we go to the supermarket, there is always too much of everything—to the point where too much choice becomes confusion.

Sometimes I wonder: if we all started eating seasonally, would out-of-season products gradually disappear? Would we go back to how things used to be?
After all, if we have all this choice today, it’s because we wanted it… right?
So, if we all made an effort together, could we return to eating healthy, respecting the seasonality of foods, taking care of our bodies, and following the rhythm of Mother Nature?

These challenges may seem larger than us, but I believe we’ll only truly understand by living through them.
But in the meantime, there is something we can do in our small way.
I can write about what I know about seasonality, about the fascinating adventure that every vegetable has gone through to become what it is today—the star of countless magical moments on our tables.
Every week, I want to post an article about a seasonal fruit or vegetable, to help your children get to know them better through your stories, but also to reach all those curious souls who might not have had a grandmother to teach them or who have simply forgotten.

And you, my dear reader, have already made a small revolution, do you know that?
Because you’ve made it almost to the end of this post, and you have planted a small seed in your thoughts.

The next time you go to the supermarket, maybe a memory will come back to you—of when you used to go shopping with your parents as a child, of how happy you were with what you ate without even realizing it.
And this time, you will realize it.
And maybe you’ll think… strawberries taste better in June.

Ready to discover more about seasonal vegetables?

My favorite season is coming: Spring.

Next time, I want to post an article about my beloved Cauliflower.
But do you know where it comes from?
I also want to try to add a little gift to the next post. Let’s see if I can pull it off!

I’d also love to use this space to share memories and experiences with you, my dear readers!
Do you have any childhood memories of grocery shopping?
Do you ever think about seasonality when choosing fruits and vegetables?
Write me in the comments—I’m curious to read about your experiences!

Thank you for staying with me until the end.
I hope your curiosity pushes you to come back next week.

Jasmine