'Tis the Season

I went to my sister, Jess's house for dinner the other night. She is a chef and freelance food writer, so naturally I was excited to get over there and see what she had in store for my stomach. To my surprise, we had a bit of a hodgepodge for our meal. She put me right to work, handing me a pair of scissors to get fresh arugula for the salad, after which I made my self busy slicing and arranging various fresh heirloom tomatoes on a plate. I've never really had much of a liking for tomatoes, and everyone used to tell me it was because I'd never had them fresh from the garden. They were right. I started small, tasting a cherry tomato first. Before I could finish chewing I found myself reaching for another! I could practically taste the flavor just by looking at all the vibrant red, green, yellow, and orange colors. Tomatoes aren't just red anymore!

After my enlightenment to the world of fresh vegetables (or is it a fruit?), the strange juxtaposition of seasons in a meal took place. Jess was testing a recipe that is due to be published in Winter 2009. So here I am, eating an array of fresh arugula and tomatoes along side a comforting yet very much meant for winter plate of gourmet mac-n-cheese. How can this happen? Especially during this time of energy crisis when we are all paying so much attention to our affect on the environment? How is it that the people that care the most about food and have so much experience with it are forced to cook out of season to publish a recipe in a magazine?

Maybe it's one of those sacrifices people simply learn to live with. I guess it's easy to compare it with environmentalism. There are a lot of people out there that want to be environmentally conscious but aren't radical enough to completely erase their carbon footprint. Instead they do everything they can, recycle bottles, take shorter showers, but still drive their cars to work when its raining. Maybe in the food world, testing recipes out of season is one of the commodities that can't be sacrificed, simply out of practicality. In that case, we might as well just do what Jess does and make do with the occasional August prime rib, served with a side of guacamole and zucchini.