Jeremy C Kester

Last year I stopped eating apples. Let me be more specific: I stopped eating apples out of season.

In the last few years, picking apples at a local orchard has become a ritual come autumn. My family goes, we get a ½ peck bag, and go to town. As I pick, I also eat. And let me tell you, eating an apple that I’ve picked off the tree only seconds earlier has been one of the most eye-opening experiences of my life. And because of that, I’ve started to look a little different towards fruits, vegetables, and food in general. I’m not necessarily talking “organic”, “non-GMO”, or whatever; I am talking about whether a food is in season or not.

When I used to buy apples from the market, no matter what market, I got fairly good at telling whether an apple was going to be good, meaning crisp and juicy. It was a process with a roughly 60% to 70% success rate. Anything that fell outside of good meant a less-than-mediocre apple eating experience. Then lo! I discover getting an apple direct from an orchard during picking season and my world changed. This year especially when I picked my first-ever Red Delicious variety direct from a tree and bit into it. Holy existential experience, Batman! It was LITERALLY the greatest tasting apple I have ever had in my life.

Foods, particularly fruit, have seasons. Because we have gotten to a point in society that we can order about any possible thing up on the web, or run down to a local store and get just about anything we want, we have become accustomed to it. Since I decided to wait, to avoid something that I could get easily from a grocery market any day, to pick an apple when it’s ready rather than grabbing something that’s been shipped in from somewhere else, I have found a greater eating experience that is so much more satisfying.

Foods have seasons. We should learn them in our locale. We should try our best to follow them in our locale. Sometimes things are worth waiting for. The food is way better when we do.

Featured photo taken and owned by Jeremy C Kester