Lately it seems like all anyone in the food world can talk about is local, seasonal food. Now, you can bet your firstborn that we at AM will never preach to you, we'll never drink the self-righteous foodie Kool-Aid and then spew it all over you, our innocent readers, but we will say this: all the talk about local food is totally legit. It's more delicious. It's better for the environment. Growing food brings us closer to our roots, back to a time when men were truly men. Wait, didn't we just promise we'd never preach to you? Sorry -- you can have your firstborn back.
Searching for the perfect tomato
So all this local food talk is great, but we're still in the dark about which specific foods we should be looking for as the seasons change. After all, not every guy can manage to get up before noon on a Saturday to make it down to the farmers' market, and not every guy has a buddy who happens to be a farmer. For the guy who shops at the grocery store when he has time but doesn't want to sweat it, here's a guide to what's in season right now. Chances are that even if they're in the produce section of your local mega-store, these fruits and veggies are at their peak right now, and might even be sourced locally.
The right-now hot list
These fruits and veggies are in season pretty much everywhere right now:
Tomatoes, zucchini and all other types of squash, sweet corn, cucumbers, carrots, beets, all kinds of salad greens, peppers, eggplant, peaches, plums, blueberries, and raspberries.
These fruits and veggies hit their peak later in the summer and early fall, so hold off for the best stuff:
Apples, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower.
These fruits and veggies are generally shipped in from other parts of the world at this time of year:
Bananas, citrus (oranges and grapefruit are ready in Florida and California in winter, but not right now), asparagus (they're local in early summer, but it's too hot now), and kiwis.
So what do you do with a semi-intimidating pile of fresh local vegetables? Here's a tip from AM's test kitchen: Almost any three vegetables, cut up small and seasoned with lime and salt, will make a pretty good salsa.
