There are some vegetables that, although they are not in season, we can find in supermarkets throughout the year. In these cases, it is usually due to imported foods that have been preserved in chambers or that have been grown using artificial methods, altering their properties and using chemical additives.
Therefore, the recommendation of nutritionists is to advocate a seasonal diet, since it is healthier. By consuming seasonal vegetables, we ensure that their flavor and texture is natural, without much presence of additives. Their flavor is much more intense and tasty, in addition to having a greater nutritional contribution, as they better preserve their nutritional properties and flavor when they have matured naturally.
On the other hand, your pocket also benefits, since if they are not, they will be more expensive due to the transportation necessary for their importation. In this way, by prioritizing seasonal foods you will be supporting local commerce and farmers and producers in the area, especially if you opt for local foods.
This is not all, because local foods are also more ecological and sustainable. This is because cultivation outside of nature’s own cycles inevitably requires additives, fertilizers and pesticides, which are not present in organic cultivation, when the climate is also favorable. To this we must add that transportation to import food that is not in season also generates waste and polluting emissions that do not occur in the case of prioritizing season and proximity.
The Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (AESAN) highlights that February vegetables are full of flavor, fiber, vitamins and minerals, “so that taking care of ourselves is a real pleasure,” they emphasize on their profile on the social network Instagram. “If they are also local, we help protect the environment,” adds the agency dependent on the Ministry of Consumer Affairs.
“Eating seasonal fruit means making sure that the food is at its optimal ripening point and that all its nutritional qualities are intact. If they are also local, in addition to taking care of ourselves, we take care of the planet,” they emphasize in another publication dedicated to seasonal fruits in February.
