It’s no surprise our planet is simmering.

Even educated people do not understand — or choose to ignore — the basics.

Why is it that only foodies and farmers seem to comprehend — for reasons too numerous to count — that we should be eating what’s grown close to home? No food miles nor lengthy refrigeration and no nasty preservatives needed to bring fruits and vegetables to
our plates.

The general public do not seem to get their heads around even the simplest tenets of environmental awareness. No one needs strawberries (or cherries) in January. That would be fine if we lived in Australia, but in the Northern hemisphere it could not be more wrong. How far have those pale imitations of ripe English summer fruits travelled? What has gone into them to keep them from turning to mush? The same goes other berries and other fruits gracing our supermarket shelves that are more out of season than the
Premier League in July.

I blame the big chains — thanks to them, we’re all used to being able to pluck summer stone fruits from their shelves throughout the year. Only a few fruits are a treat — certain citrus fruits seem to fall within that category. Blood oranges; satsumas and Sevilleoranges all make a winter appearance and then vanish. Admittedly even they aren’t grown on our shores, but at least they are grown in the same hemisphere - and literally thick-skinned enough to cope with the journey.

Fruit at market Jaffe.jpg

Keep summer fruits for sunny skies

Asparagus should also be a seasonal treat, but flimsy stalks are jetted in from South America to sustain those too impatient to wait. Same goes for sweet smelling tomatoes and stone fruits.

When we celebrated Tu Bishvat this week, I was hugely disappointed to see a request for children to take in fruits like apricots, cherries and strawberries to the school celebrations. What is that teaching them? This is a festival about caring for nature - not ignoring the basics.

I stubbornly refused to purchase out-of-season produce and sent dried apricots. At this time of year, that is what should be on the celebration table.

Eating in season is not only kinder to the planet, but it’s cheaper. What you eat also has far more nutrients than the well-travelled version.

Serve up winter's bounty plus the jewel-like dried fruits preserved from summer spoils, and teach children that's what's available for this January celebration of new life.

Should that not be the valuable life lesson we give our children on the day that we’re celebrating nature?