(no subject)

posted by [identity profile] j4.livejournal.com at 09:50pm on 11/03/2008
I would only be hazarding a vague guess as to which month

Err, but, it's not about the month, totally, is it? I mean, yer fruits don't actually know about the calendar. If summer comes early, summer fruits will be "in season" earlier. etc.

I never have cause to wonder when things are in season, in a detailed way, or rather, to memorise it

It's hardly a question of "memorising" to know that raspberries are not "in season" in this country in February!

probably since we can get most things when we want/need them, and how in season they are is reflected in a. where we get them from b. how much they cost and c. whether they are being labelled as "British" or "in season" or "just dug up" or whatever.

But it's precisely because you can buy anything whenever you want it -- regardless of the cost to the environment -- that it's useful to have a vague idea of what's really in season, so that when you see raspberries for sale marked as "British" and "in season" in February you don't just think "oh well that must be all right then".

Of course, if you don't care about the seasonality (for whatever reason) then no, there's no need to worry about all the tedious memorising of when summer is, etc: you can buy anything you want whenever you want.
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emperor: (Default)

(no subject)

posted by [personal profile] emperor at 11:15am on 13/03/2008
Indeed, this poll arose from a story elsewhere of how Tesco sell "local" "in-season" raspberries at this time of year. They import plants from Mexico that are about to fruit, and stick them in polytunnels.
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(no subject)

posted by [identity profile] didiusjulianus.livejournal.com at 01:24pm on 13/03/2008
However I *didn't* say that I didn't know that rasps aren't in season in Feb, or indeed that supermarkets don't twist the truth (I wasn't born yesterday), all I was saying that I use a variety of prompts and clues (rather than having a specific knowledge, sat at my computer on a windy March morning, where I can pluck detailed answers out of the air), that trigger a vague notion of "ah, it's such and such a time, such and such is in season now, maybe we will treat outselves to some strawbs" and thoughts to that effect.

Since I only buy 4 things of the list with anything approaching regularity, & can't afford at least half of them, in season or not, there's no good reason why I would know specifically when most of it is in season (although I know a summer fruit when I see one - and as we have seen, the question is a little unanswerable as it depends on all sorts of factors (such as how grown, location, weather, etc). This doesn't make me some kind of super environmental destroyer, as I'm not buying lots of the stuff at alarmingly out of season times flown in from half way round the globe - I'm simply not buying it, period ;)

It's interesting how people jump to conclusions though, I bet our green credentials are much better than a lot of people despite doing our shopping mainly at a supermarket and my lack of gardening skill - I've never been on a plane in my life, for a start, which gives my carbon footprint a massive headstart I should imagine, and we've always run economical cars (one between 4) and used a lot of public transport in our time (we still do sometimes; although the bus fare going up even higher than the diesel now means my partner has reverted to taking the car to work except on the days I need it, although it's not far, so that's fairly green anyway, living near work).
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