By Wayne McLaurin
Georgia Extension Service
Volume XXVII
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One of the greatest restaurants I’ve ever eaten in is now
gone.
What made it great? You went in, sat down and ate what Mary
had prepared that
day. What the boat brought in, she fixed. And if the catch was
poor, she would
close up with a note on the door.
I had to caution my new bride on the first visit that she
didn’t want the chicken.
Mary always had chicken, but only for those people who didn’t
eat seafood.
Maybe we all should take a page out of Mary’s playbook: Eat
what’s in season.
Most of the world does this.
Citizens of this country are spoiled with all vegetables
available all of the
time.
But what do we do? We complain all of the other 10 months
about tomato flavor.
Why do we expect a tomato that’s picked green in California,
gassed with ethylene
and in transit or storage for five days to taste like the one
you bring in from
your backyard plant for lunch?
Until I was 12 years old, we didn’t have a “chain store.” The
vegetables generally
available were potatoes, cabbage, onions, garlic (yes, it’s a
vegetable in our
family) and occasionally carrots. During the growing season,
tomatoes, squash
or peppers would be displayed in a hamper by the door.
Mainly we grew and ate fresh vegetables and canned what we
didn’t eat fresh.
Seasonality was important. We looked forward to that first
tomato in the late
spring as we ate canned tomato gravy with biscuits on cold,
winter evenings.
Vegetables still taste as good as they always did. We just
have to raise them
and consume them in their season. Don’t mess with Mother
Nature. You know it’s
not nice to do so.
Eat what you have according to the season and cherish the
moment.
I think that’s the reason we used to line up at Mary’s
Place.
