However, when it comes to fruits and vegetables, eating locally does make a difference, for various reasons.
One of them is supporting your community and small farmers in your area, another is reducing your carbon footprint (although there are lots of schools of thought on this one, arguing that it is not necessarily greener to eat local, but that's another post altogether), and in my book, the most important reason, is that eating locally provides you with the most nutrients (and usually the most flavor).
From the minute fruits and vegetables are picked off the plant, their nutrient content starts to slowly decrease. Also, when fruits and vegetables are at their peak in ripeness, they contain the most nutrients.
Therefore, if you are eating a Mango that was picked in Haiti over two weeks ago, probably kept in a temperature controlled truck or warehouse to prevent or increase it's ripening process, and potentially subjected to a specific gas for the same purpose, you are getting way less nutritional benefits than if you are eating one in Mexico, just picked from the tree this morning. Needless to say, chances are that the one that was picked off the tree tasted a heck of a lot better than the one that was picked green and manipulated into ripeness at a specific point in time.
If you are striving to eat locally then you will have to eat seasonally. When you go to your local farmers market in search of produce, you will only find what is in season, what is growing in your area at this time according to the weather, the seasons, the specifics of rain fall and dry spells. So if you want Strawberries in December, and you live in the South, chances are they will come from Chile, in which case all the previous rules about nutritional value will apply to your juicy looking berries.
To this we can also add the fact that if we are eating fruits out of season, it's probably because we are the kind of person or household that eats the same fruits year round. At a dear friend's house, there are ALWAYS, no matter the time of the year or day of the week, strawberries, blueberries, apples and bananas. Two adults and a child live in this house. That means that these three people are getting the exact same set of nutrients year round from the fruits they consume, and more often than not, they are eating these out of season, so they are not even getting the fruit's full potential.
If we always eat the same things, then we are always getting the same nutrients, and we can safely assume that unless we are eating super foods, we are then also deficient in many other nutrients.
Eating locally forces us to switch it up, without us having to really think about it, which is always a bonus :). A few weeks ago, Oro Blanco grapefruits, blood oranges and Satsuma mandarins was the bulk of my fruit consumption. Since then I have added tangelos, Kiwis and Asian pears to that, and last Tuesday I found that Kumquats and Guavas are now in season here, so two more fruits are now in our kitchen for our daily dose.
Most of you are probably getting a little angry at me right now and thinking: "easy for you to say, you live in California, where everything grows and there is delicious stuff available locally year round, but what about the rest of us?????"
Please take a deep breath and calm down. I know how lucky I am, trust me... I haven't moved back to California 4 times because I enjoy moving across the country.
Not living in California does not mean you can't eat locally or seasonally. First and foremost, something is always growing somewhere except in the dead of winter. Second and most importantly, our options in this day and age are plenty.
If you are willing to try your luck at canning and preserving, this is the best way to keep eating locally during the winter months. When the bounty of summer is at it's peak, spend a few weekends preserving some of the fruits and pickling some vegetables. It's fun, it's easy, and it will provide you with delicious fruits full of nutrients when nothing is available locally in your area. You can do it with friends and family, or by yourself and give it as gifts to your loved ones.
You can find great recipes online, my friend E turn me on to this awesome blog: www.foodinjars.com
Another good way to get the most nutrient from out of season fruits are frozen fruits which are available in every supermarket in this country.
When eating out of season, this is usually your best bet for fruits that are still packed with nutrients, as most frozen produce is picked at it's peak, and flash frozen to preserve all it's goodness. This point is explained in detail by nutritionist Marion Nestle in her amazing book: What to Eat. You can read more about it in her website as well at www.foodpolitics.com
The frozen fruits will also more often than not be cheaper than it's imported counterpart.
Being that I am originally from a Tropical Island, I find myself sometimes craving the fruits of my childhood or what Americans refer to as "exotic" fruits . I will rarely buy any of them that have been imported, as I don't want to eat empty calories from fruits ( I'd much rather save those for a nice crafted cocktail ;)). I also don't want to set myself up for the deep disappointment that takes over my whole body when I bite into a Mango that is just not that good (J calls me a Mango snob) and sends me into a rant about how a fucking mango should really taste like.
When I find myself in this debacle, I go to the store, I buy a few bags of frozen stuff, and I cook them together with a little honey or agave nectar, and turn it into a delicious compote to eat with my yogurt or oatmeal, that is usually just as tasty as the fresh stuff.
Last week, I made one with some of those local fresh Guavas I told you about, which were phenomenal, and a bag of frozen pineapple. Divine!
I challenge you all to try and eat a few more local fruits and veggies for the next few weeks. You might find that it's a lot easier than you thought, and that the results are so delicious and nutritious, you won't mind going the extra mile.
