Introducing…
Hello! Our names are Beth Mack and Jillian Mickens and we are interns from the UNC Chapel Hill Public Health/Nutrition program. We will be spending the summer working with Laura Aiken from AHA and Carol Mitchell from NC Cooperative Extension.
In addition to helping with many of AHA and Cooperative Extension’s exciting projects, we have been tasked with creating a weekly blog to provide website visitors with useful nutrition/food information. The main focus of our blogs will be about buying local fruits and vegetables that are in season at Wake County Farmer’s Markets. Each week we will blog about a fruit or vegetable and provide details about its nutrition facts, storage guidelines and cooking suggestions.
Along the way we will also be blogging about other nutrition/food events that occur in Wake County. So let’s begin this summer time blogging adventure with some information about local and seasonal eating!
Local and Seasonal Eating
In this day and age, the concept of a growing season is a foreign concept. Believe it or not there was a time in this country when the consumer could not go to the local grocery store and buy a tomato in the middle of winter. The older generations of Americans reminisce about the excitement of getting the season’s first produce or the chore of canning foods to survive the winter months. These events became a thing of the past as the US became a major player in global commerce and the local grocery stores became commonplace. US grocery stores provide all types of produce from around the world regardless of time of year. Because of the convenience of unlimited access to produce, Americans rarely think about the disadvantages of not purchasing locally and seasonally.
Buying locally and seasonally has several advantages:
- It is a more eco-friendly way to shop. Most grocery store produce travels approximately 1,200 miles to get from farm to fork. Buying locally and in season helps reduce carbon emissions from vehicles used to transport produce.
- Buying locally supports the community financially by providing business to local farmers and workers, which helps stimulate the local economy.
- There are associated health benefits for you and your family from eating healthy unprocessed fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables provide vitamins, minerals and fiber, which are important to maintaining health. Also since the time from farm to fork is minimal, the produce is fresher making it even more nutrient dense.
- Shopping at a Farmer’s Markets provides families with the opportunity to spend time together and learn more about fruits and vegetables and where they come from.
- We can feel more confident knowing that food grow locally had been handled less and this fewer opportunities to become contaminated with harmful bacteria.
Go to the
Local Foods and Community Garden tab on the AHA webpage to find a listing of community gardens, pick-you-own-vegetables sites, CSA farms and Wake County Farmer’s Markets.
To find out what’s in season, ask the farmers at your local Wake County Farmer’s Market. You can also use the following links to find out more about eating seasonally.
Look for more posts from me, (Jillian) and Beth each week about what’s in season and how to prepare it for you and your family. Happy shopping and remember to buy local and support Wake County Farmer’s Markets.
Comments
awesome blog!
awesome blog!
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