Eating seasonally should go hand-in-hand with veganism.
Eating vegan is the ultimate commitment to sustainability and, therefore, low-impact living should be high on every vegan’s agenda.
Of course, animal welfare is the primary driving force for many (including myself) vegans, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t care about our planet too.
Following a vegan diet is the greenest thing you can do. Animal agriculture is, in short, war on the environment. Think about it, we feed grain – that humans can eat – to animals so we can kill them and eat them, when all that grain would feed a vegetarian planet many times over. But that shouldn’t stop vegans from doing even more to preserve the planet’s future – and eating local is another way you can do this. Eating local, means eating seasonally.
Much has been written and talked about the weather decimating vegetable crops in Spain. People are running scared because they can’t get aubergines, courgettes and iceberg lettuce in the middle of the British winter. Less is written about what you can get.
My local market has plenty of purple sprouting broccoli – a more than adequate replacement for the green broccoli everyone is suddenly missing… the purple variety is in season too! In fact, purple sprouting broccoli will be sprouting on to our dinner plates for several months yet, so why not make the most of it? It’s even better if you buy it in a paper bag from your local market, or farmers’ market as most supermarkets seem to bury it in a coffin of plastic – gripping the poor veg tight enough to choke all the life and flavour out of it.
Muddy veg that comes from up the road is obviously tastier than veg that is tired out from a trip halfway around the world, and it lasts longer too. In other words, why should what the weather’s doing to this year’s veg crop in Spain impact on our dinners in the UK?
This isn’t some anti-foreign veg, pro-Brexit rant, it’s quite simply a matter of being kinder to the environment, taking veganism to its logical conclusion and, hopefully, eating more cheaply too.
Squashes are in season – what could be more warming than a winter squash stew? You could turn the leftovers into a delicious soup – wasting veg is another big no-no when it comes to sustainable living.
Personally, I’m a huge fan of Brussel sprouts. I know one can feel very lonely when making such an admission – but, if cooked right, they really are a delight to devour.
I don’t boil them. I shop them up into little bits and stir fry them with onions, black pepper and garlic for about three minutes – the perfect sprout.
Eating seasonally shouldn’t be scary, it just adds a new dimension to your cooking; it means that you vary your meals to fit in with what’s available – how exciting’s that?