Budding Tastes
If you’re tired of tasteless foods it's time to think local
Walking through your local supermarket, you stop in the produce department to stock up on fruits and veggies. It is time to get healthy, you think, and start eating five a day. Once home you decide to bite into one of the red apples you bought. The bite is crisp, but the inside tastes like … nothing. You look down, wondering if you picked up a pear or tomato by mistake. Should you bite into one of those fruits, you might experience the same (lack of) sensation.
It’s not your imagination. Food doesn’t taste like it did when you were a kid. Yes, your taste buds slowly disappear as you age, but, for once, this isn’t a problem you can attribute to growing older. The real culprit is changes in the food supply: more processed foods, less local produce.
That mealy, tasteless apple was probably picked a thousand miles from your house before it was ready, so that it could “ripen” on its way to you in a truck bumping and bruising against hundreds of other apples. And, as we rely more on processed foods, we become accustomed to artificial flavors, and consistency of flavor, which is not what Mother Nature provides.
“People think their memory is fading or that they are becoming cynical,” says Karen Page, co-author of five best-selling food books. “But food isn’t as flavorful as it was in years past because all the flavor is being processed out of it. The large companies and corporate interests are producing food for profitability, not quality. [The] question of how to improve taste is increasingly vital.”
That’s the bad news. The good news is that there are things you can do to boost the flavor profiles in your own foods. And you don’t have to vow to start milking your own cows or harvesting your own seeds.
Got a melon or strawberry that doesn’t have the intensity you had hoped? A little kirsch liquor will make it sweeter. Most people now know that basil complements tomatoes, but most don’t think of orange and sweet potatoes or honey and grapefruit, although those are the combinations you probably (unknowingly) enjoy in your favorite restaurants. Locally grown foods are another great way to improve flavor because the food will be in season and fresh.
Farmer’s markets are a great way to learn what is grown in your area and buy small quantities of their wares. But there is a way to take your commitment to fresh, local produce one step further. Community Supported Agriculture shares (CSAs) are a way to reduce the risks of agrarian life for local farmers, while you reap the rewards of a bountiful (and tasty) harvest.
Each CSA is operated differently, but most require an upfront payment, which the farmer uses to plant crops, in exchange for weekly deliveries of the farmer’s organic products, recipes and storage ideas. Most have drop-off sites either at a subscriber’s house or health food store and include approximately 20 weeks of deliveries. Those in warm climates, of course, have a longer growing season. Visit Alternative Farming Systems Information Center at Nal.usda.gov/afsic/csa/csastate.htm to find a CSA near you.
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