To think about eating locally produced, seasonal food.
Age group: Any
How long it will take: 60 minutes
What materials you will need: pens and paper, copies of the seasonal food calendar, copies of the ‘Food all year round’ sheet; if you choose to go out shopping, money and reusable carrier bags.
The aim of the activity: To think about eating locally produced, seasonal food.
Adapted and extended from activities for kids on the Countryside Foundation’s web site. Food calendar compiled from too many web sites to mention.
What to do:
One way to bring down your food milometer is to eat foods that are grown locally. In the UK, since we have seasons, this means eating foods that are ‘in season’. Most people have lost track of what foods are supposed to be available in which season, since technology like large scale hothouses and rapid, energy-hungry transport (you know you can get strawberries when Wimbledon’s on in July, but then you can get tasteless foreign strawberries in January, too).
What do you know about seasonal foods? Try going round the circle with each person saying a month of the year (in order) and a food that is in season then.
So the first person says “January – Cabbage,” the second, “February – cauliflower.” Venturers: try this without using the seasonal calendar. Are there any months you get stuck on? Can the group do this at all? Pioneers and Elfins could do this using the calendar, just as a quick warm-up.
Ask the following questions:
1. Which months of the year harvest the greatest variety of foods?
2. Which months of the year offer the least variety of foods?
3. Why do you think there is a greater variety of food ripening and being harvested in Q1? HINT - think about what a plant needs to live and grow and think what will help a fruit ripen.
If your group is a small one, you could go to a local large corner shop or supermarket (open when you meet) with your seasonal food calendar and look at foods on sale.
Buy a basket of fruit and veg – only ones that are in season! Take it back to your meeting place and look at it all. What meals could you make from them? Would everyone be happy to eat meals only made from these foods for a whole month?
Planning menus is part of going away on camp or weekends with Woodcraft Folk. Divide the group smaller groups and give each the task of planning one of these menus, using seasonal foods as the main ingredients:
Would everyone be happy to eat these menus? Were some of them harder to think of than others? Did something seem to be missing from any of them?
If foods are seasonal, how come we can eat so many of them all year round? Mostly, fresh fruit and veg that are not in season here are imported from places where they are in season – at great cost to the environment. Here are some other ways that we can eat all kinds of foods at different times of the year:
Hand round the ‘Food All Year Round’ sheet that gives more information about these methods.
Not all foods are suited to all the ways of growing and storing. Ask the group to find 5 different kinds of fruit or veg suited to each of the ways (you could do this by splitting the larger group up into eight).
Would any of these preserved foods make the menus you made up better?
Some of these methods use more energy or resources than others (so are less sustainable). Which do you think would be the most or least environmentally friendly ways of preserving food? Which ones do people do at home? Which ones would they like to do if they knew how or had help to do them?
Do you ever have fresh food left over from camp? What do you do with it? Once upon a time in the early 1990s, the DFs had a huge surplus of grapefruit left over after their summer camp. They made delicious grapefruit marmalade and raised funds from selling the jars for many months to come!
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SEASONAL FOOD CALENDAR |
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Month |
Fruit & vegetables |
Fish & meat |
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January |
Cabbage, cauliflower, celeriac, forced rhubarb (forced to do what?), leeks, parsnips, turnip, shallots, squash |
goose, lobster, scallops |
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February |
Cabbage, cauliflower, celeriac, chard, chicory, forced rhubarb, kohlrabi, leeks, parsnips, spinach, swede, turnip |
mussels, halibut, guinea fowl, lobster |
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March |
Beetroot, cabbage, cauliflower, leeks, mint, mooli, parsley, broccoli, radishes, rhubarb, sorrel |
sardines (fresh ones!), lobster |
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April |
Broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, morel mushrooms, wild garlic, radishes, rhubarb, carrots, kale, watercress, spinach, rosemary flowers |
spring lamb, cockles |
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May |
Broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, gooseberries, parsley, mint, broad beans, rhubarb, new carrots, samphire, asparagus |
sea bass, lemon sole, sardines, duck, sea trout |
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June |
carrots, cherries, elderflowers, lettuce, strawberries, peppers, asparagus, redcurrants, peas, rhubarb, gooseberries, tayberries, tomatoes, courgettes, broad beans |
welsh lamb, crab, salmon, grey mullet |
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July |
carrots, gooseberries, strawberries, spinach, tomatoes, watercress, loganberries, sage, cauliflower, aubergine, fennel, asparagus, cabbage, celery, cherries, lettuce, mangetout, nectarines, new potatoes, oyster mushrooms, peas, peaches, radish, raspberries, rhubarb, tomatoes, French beans |
Trout, pilchards, clams, pike, pigeon |
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August |
carrots, gooseberries, lettuce, loganberries, raspberries, strawberries, cauliflower, aubergines, nectarines, peaches, peppers, courgettes, rhubarb, sweetcorn, greengages, basil, peas, pears, apples, French beans, tomatoes |
crayfish, hare, skate, john dory (that’s a fish) |
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September |
apples, aubergines, blackberries, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, cucumber, damsons, elderberries, figs, French beans, grapes, kale, lettuce, melons mushrooms, nectarines, onions, peppers, parsnips, peas, peaches, pears, potatoes, pumpkin, raspberries, rhubarb, spinach, sweetcorn, tomatoes |
duck, venison, oysters, sea bass, grouse, mussels, partridge, wood pigeon, brown trout |
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October |
apples, aubergines, beetroot, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, courgettes, grapes, lettuce, marrow, mushrooms, parsnips, potatoes, squash, tomatoes, watercress |
guinea fowl, partridge, mussels, grouse, oysters |
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November |
cabbage, pumpkin, swede, cauliflower, potatoes, parsnips, pears, leeks, quinces, chestnuts, cranberries, beetroot |
grouse, goose |
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December |
Celery, cabbage, red cabbage, cauliflower, celeriac, pumpkin, beetroot, turnips, parsnips, sprouts, pears, swede |
wild duck, goose, sea bass, turkey |
FOOD ALL YEAR ROUND
If foods are seasonal, how come we can eat so many of them all year round? Mostly, fresh fruit and veg that are not in season here are imported from places where they are in season – at great cost to the environment. Here are some other ways that we can eat all kinds of foods at different times of the year.
GROWING DIFFERENT VARIETIES
Different varieties of fruits and vegetables mature and are ripe at different times. For example with apples, early apples such as "Discovery" are ready to be picked in mid August, "Ellison's Orange" in mid September and "Golden Delicious" in mid October. (Ellison's Orange is in fact a type of apple!)
COLD STORES
Cold stores can store a variety of food. The temperature depends on the food being stored but it will generally be between 5-10 degrees centigrade. This cool temperature prevents rotting and spoiling. Potatoes and apples can be held in a cold store.
FREEZING
The true flavour, colour and appearance of the food is kept well during freezing. Most vegetables are blanched (put in boiling water for a very short time), dried and then frozen. An example of this method is frozen peas. Fruits can be frozen dry (berry fruits) or in sugar or syrups.
PICKLING
Vegetables can be pickled raw or cooked. They are stored in vinegar, which is a weak acid, and this prevents bacteria from spoiling the food. Even eggs can be cooked and pickled in vinegar and spices – although maybe cucumbers are more common (as gherkins)!
BOTTLING AND CANNING
This preserves food with its natural taste and texture. Fruit or vegetables are packed into bottling jars. They are covered with water, syrup or brine. They are heated at a high temperature to sterilise the jar's contents. The jars are then sealed when still hot. Bottling was popular in the home, but cans are used commercially, like with tinned tomatoes.
MAKING JAMS AND JELLIES
Fruit is cooked and softened, sugar is added and the mixture is boiled. When a certain temperature is reached, the jam can be taken off the heat and poured into jars. As it cools, it sets. Jellies are strained jams, without pips or whole fruits.
DRYING
Some foods can be dried, either in the sun or by artificial heat. Sultanas are dried grapes.
GROWING UNDER GLASS
In countries with cool climates, there is usually not enough heat to grow the most delicate or exotic vegetables. In hot houses a farmer can grow almost any crop. This is because the temperature can be controlled. Summer salads, which do not store well, can be grown all year. But it is expensive to heat these glass houses and it uses huge amounts of energy.