Forum

Obviously it depends where you live, but here the heat of summer seems to have suddenly disappeared, and the weather has taken a decided turn towards the autumnal.

In the summer, I tend to feel like making and eating mostly salads, quiches, and cold dishes that don't involve a lot of time in the oven or on the hob. But yesterday, with the rain pelting down, a chill in the air and the sky grey and cloudy I was struck by a burning desire to make a curry with all the trimmings. It felt so nice to be making a curry again (one of my favourite types of food) and the whole process of preparing it, cooking it, the smells of it, eating it etc made me feel so autumnal and ready to say goodbye to summer and salads, and bring on the stews, soups and curries.

The funny thing is that obviously in India I'm pretty sure curry is made and eaten all year round, and it gets a lot hotter there than it does here.

I was talking to a friend about it, who found it odd that I mostly eat cold or lightly cooked food in the summer, and said that apart from being influenced a bit by the seasonality of ingredients, he didn't especially change the way he cooked or ate from one season to the next.

How much does the weather influence the type of food you cook and eat, and do you get excited about the prospect of a new season ushering in a new host of cooking possibilities?

Central Ontario has 4 very clear and distinct seasons and the changes are one of the real joys of living here. To compare, I also lived in Victoria BC and the seasons are nowhere near as obvious - unless you talk to my friends who have only ever lived there. For example. their description of the transition from winter to spring is a bit....over dramatic :)  Realize this is coming from someone who had 3 large piles of what we call "arena snow" created by shovelling on her property until well into May!

So here at home, the weather has a major influence on the focus of my cooking.  We will use the BBQ throughout the winter (but this depends on harsh weather - there are nights when neither of us are willing to go out there!) but it is a pleasure to spend a snowy, cold Saturday or Sunday (and soon any day now that I am retired !) creating stews, chilis, soups, curries or pot roasts.  But once spring truly arrives after the long winter (dare I say later & later every year?) we begin to focus on the BBQ and also lighter salad based meals.  July and into August is often very hot & humid and the BBQ / salad trend continues but our appetites do seem to die a bit.  Now at the very end of August, the air has changed again and the leaves are starting to show reds & oranges and so yesterday I made a lovely Barefoot Contessa curry for tonight....and the cycle continues :)

For what it is worth....fall is my favourite season!  The sky is clear and the air is fresh & crisp.  The mosquitos are gone and the leaves truly put on a show worth seeing.  Fall produce is piling up in the stores and we cook all manner of styles - it is comfortable to BBQ and the oven doesn't heat the house up too much.  And of course, my absolute favourite holiday is Thanksgiving (Oct 12 this year).

When I lived in North America with air conditioning and shops that stocked most ingredients year round there wasn't as much seasonality in my cooking as normal.  Back in Europe I definitely use the oven much less in summer, barbecue more and eat loads of salads. The food in the shops is very seasonal: you can only buy asparagus late April to early June, for example, so that dictates (not in a bad way!) what we eat.  It has turned very cool for August and now I'm craving heartier food, so I went to our fantastic cheese shop on Saturday and we had fondue for dinner. I wouldn't normally make that in summer!

Oddly was thinking about this just this morning. I'm in North London and went out for an early morning run at 05:30. Opening the front door it was like oooooh that's cold yet a week or 2 ago we were in the middle of a  summer heatwave. 

As for food yes, we definitely match food to the seasons/weather. Am already looking to dust off the Le Creuset for slow cooked stews rather than grilled fish and salads etc. There's also the benefit of eating produce at its very best. 

For us it it not only style of cooking but types of food available depending on season.  We grow lots of fruits in our yard and these fruits are seasonal.  Now, most of my stone fruits are going away but have abundance of grapes and figs.  Soon, it will be apples, pear apples, persimmons followed by citrus.  Not only fruits and vegetables, seafood and fish are very seaonal.  I try to catch the best wild salmon during summer months and enjoy hot smoked salmon throughout the year.  Also sanma which is saury comes in.  Then all the wonderful mushrooms.  Winter brings crabs. 

With me, the change of the seasons matters little for my likes and dislikes, except that I'm more likely to want salad in the warmer months.

What the change of seasons means to me is the availability or unavailability of produce.

I live in Colorado, which has four distinct seasons. I enjoy the change of seasons, and the agricultural cycle (food; flowers for my balcony container garden & home). I have to be intentional about cooking seasonally, to look for some products during their limited availablity.

I try to cook a few dishes every season with favorite seasonal fruits and vegetables: in spring, rhubarb from my mom's garden. In summer a cherry dessert, a peach dessert, and a corn soup/chowder. In fall, an apple pie, something with persimmons. In December, kumquats; other citrus fruits throughout winter; more root vegetables. I enjoy seafood according to its availablity, and lamb from March-September. I like to grill from May-October. I also have a few winter-focused cookbooks which help with ideas. Cooking magazines are also good for seasonal awareness.

I get so so excited for the change of serasons and the produce it brings because with the execption of things we've preserved at their best we mostly eat in season. 

Turkey has 2 long distict seasons Summer and winter and the other 2 are almost blink and you miss them. 

Spring and summer we mostly have lighter dishes and there's always mezes in the fridge. Autumn brings the chance to start the comfort foods and winter is just mmmm heavy rich slow cooked dishes. By the time each season is closing I'm ready and eager to eat the best of the next and I think I gives me an appreciation of what's available and what's not. Sometimes I think it like discovering a dish for the first time again. No chance to get bored. 

In the autumn I really love making an apple and blackberry crumble with apples from our old apple tree and brambles gathered from the hedgerow. Nothing like it! First one this evening and it is such a lovely feeling. 

I have been consciously trying to eat more seasonally, especially when it comes to produce. Our Farmer's Market is open year round but has very little during the winter. It is the ephemeral spring vegetables that are the greatest draw- asparagus, peas, and the Holy Grail: morel mushrooms which can only be foraged, not cultivated. It seems the type of cooking follows on the type of produce, spring and summer vegetables needing little to no cooking and winter squashes etc benefitting from roasting and braising. The winter crop I look forward to most longingly is citrus fruit!

I guess I am fruit oriented, I always try to make something with local berries in the spring, something with plums, nectarines and peaches in the summer and apples and pears in the fall and winter. Seasonal vegetables and cooking styles don't seem to excite me as much.