Yes we have no bananas

In March 2006, north Queensland met Cyclone Larry. The storm wiped out great swathes of food crops such as bananas and avocados. Suddenly, there were no bananas in the shops, conventional or organic, for many months. When they did appear, they were of poor quality and wildly expensive. It made the general population realise that natural occurrences such as storms, fires and floods can have a severe effect on food supply. And they weren’t happy about it. No bananas? It was an outrage. In Australia, we enjoy an enormous range of fresh foods all year due to modern storage technology and transportation. We seem to think that we should be able to get anything anytime, despite droughts, floods and the odd cyclone. Many people are not aware that there are particular growing seasons and regions for fresh foods.

Natural disasters aside, most fruits and vegetables only grow well at certain times of the year. We should enjoy and appreciate the unique tastes, textures and colours of each season.  Of course, most of us buy things like frozen peas and berries when they are not available fresh. The reason why strawberries that are sold in supermarkets all year round are often downright horrible eludes many people. Be aware of when fruits, vegetables and herbs are in season - that’s when they are at their best in freshness, taste and nutritional value. And by eating seasonally we can reduce our ecological footprint by not using up fossil fuels unnecessarily through transporting food from other countries and states and through long term refrigerated storage.

And perhaps the more people who are grateful for what Mother Nature offers us throughout the year, the less food waste we would see. You can’t always get what you want … but you can look forward to the next season’s food that you love, and appreciate it all the more when it appears.