On seasonality, sustainability and supporting local

I grew up in Singapore - a concrete metropolis on a tiny tropical island which covers about 700sq km and has a population of 5.5 million.   

Since land was so scarce, we had a very small agricultural sector and the majority of our fresh food was imported from all over the world. Stawberries from Australia and the US; melons from Mexico; apples from China; leafy vegetables from Malaysia. For a price, we could get anything we wanted at all times of the year.

I never understood seasonality until I moved to Australia. I had never eaten a juicy, vine-ripened tomato. Up until then, they had always been red, powdery and tasteless things that I sometimes found in my burgers. 

Fast-forward about 16 years and I now have my own veggie and herb garden in the backyard. There is an indescribable joy that comes from sitting down to a meal that’s made of produce you’ve tended to and harvested yourself.

At work, the food I cook is always seasonal, as far as I can help it. Not only is local, seasonal produce much more cost efficient and easier to source, it also tastes so much better than anything that has been imported and kept in cold storage for months at a time. 

As more and more people flock to urban centers, and more young people grow up getting their food out of cling-wrapped trays and plastic packaging, it becomes even more vital to give a human face to the hundreds and thousands of hardworking farmers and growers that tend the herds and toil the land to produce the food that we consume.  

Maybe then, perhaps, we will be more conscious about waste and about supporting local and sustainable practices that will continue to feed us for generations to come.