Watching the news this morning there was an article on seasonal fruit and veg or the lack of it in the UK. All this blamed on the supermarkets and suppliers now buying from a global marketplace and importing all year round.

Gone are the days when we only tasted tangerine at Christmas, or we looked forward to new potatoes with our sunday roast; and the imported produce definitely do not taste as good as the local 'in-season' items.

The point of it all is of course to encourage people to buy local and not do all their shopping in Tescos or the likes, easy concept but hard to put into practice.

How is the seasonal food in Australia? Do they rely on imports a lot or is the choice restricted to seasons?

The seasons are so strange over here TBH I've no idea what should be in season and what shouldnt.

I know in my gardening book it says plant lettuce now (coming into winter!) :blink:

Coming up to Christmas (summer) is the season for all stone fruit: peaches, nectarines, apricots, plums, cherries, mangoes, etc.

We always had a large bowl of beautiful, plump, juicy stone fruit lurking around over the Christmas period. :D

I'll agree with that :)

I assume that if it's cheap then it's in season ;)

Mandarins must be in season 99c a Kg

and Pineapples 2 for $3

Bananas ? well that's another matter $9 Kg, but thats due to the Cyclone, we have no Banana trees left !

There is a school of (medical) thought that says it is better to eat food that is in season and as local as possible. This is the ancient Indian Ayurvedic system.

I buy organic food and it sure makes choices easier, as there is only what is in season or can be easily obtained e.g. apples from Tasmania when it's too warm here - I'm OK with that, but I wouldn't want imported stuff, for instance (not that you'd get organic imported apart from some NZ produce) It's nice looking forward to stone fruit and enjoying them at their best, naturally, looking forward to leeks, lettuces and so on. It just feels more natural and keeps me in tune with the cycles of the year, and makes the things I enjoy at each particular time more special.

I think too much choice is leading to blandness of life and a fair degree of stress. There was an interesting article on Life Matters on Radio National last Friday morning 5 May- you can still listen via the ABC website if you like, it was very interesting.

If anyone is interested in Organic food, here is a link to our local supplier; http://www.myorganics.com.au/