Just in Time: 4 Reasons to Eat Seasonal Foods this Autumn

The fall rush is on! The temperature is dropping and leaves may be falling, but the amount of seasonal foods is going up. And while it’s easy and convenient to buy any kind of produce year round, there are many reasons why you should stick to the season when it comes to eating your fresh fruits and veggies.
 

1.    Seasonal foods are good for your health

Most food is picked before it is ripe. And even it will ripen further during its journey to your kitchen, the nutritional value invariably diminishes as your produce travel hundreds, if not thousands, of miles to the store – the precious vitamin and mineral will deteriorate with each passing day. 

Therefore the faster your veggies go from the farm to your plate, the more nutrition you will gain from that daily serving of vegetables. There is healthier way to eat than sourcing your produce from nearby farms and selecting seasonal products.
 

2.    Foods that are in season simply taste better

As with its diminishing moisture, produce will also slowly lose its flavor as it gets transported from the farm to get refrigerated and stored until finally reaching your plate. As anyone who has ever eaten fruits or vegetables directly from the fields can attest, the faster you can get your produce to your plate, the better they will taste!
 

3.    Seasonal foods are better for the earth

While access to the southern hemisphere and warmer southern climate’s different seasons allows many products to be available outside of their season, it is not without a cost: The longer the journey from farm to table, the larger the impact on the environment. Suppliers know that transportation time affects taste and nutrition, and the amount of energy spent on expedited food transportation is exorbitant. 
 

4.    Seasonal foods are better for your wallet

Purchasing locally grown food is usually cheaper than purchasing food from elsewhere – not to mention that buying organic vegetables can be costly. In the end, you may end up paying more for food with less nutritional value and a larger environmental impact!

So now you’re probably thinking: Sure, eating seasonal and local vegetables would be nice, but is it really a safe option in China? After all, your health is priceless, and safe and healthy food is something for which you shouldn’t have to compromise. 

But there is good news: There are local options that allow you to reap the benefits described above. Safe, healthy, and even a few organic food options grown locally in China are available from farms like Anyway and Epermarket’s Eperfarm, which produce Chinese organic vegetables in greenhouses specially designed to use filtered water, safer air, purified soil, no GMOs and without chemical fertilizers. 
 

Greenhouses can extend growing seasons as well. While some argue that the taste is better from a greenhouse because there is better control over the growing environment, others insist that fruits and vegetables grown in the ideal and natural conditions have maximized their natural taste and benefits.
 

Autumn has a deliciously abundant variety of seasonal vegetables as it is one of the largest harvest periods. Vegetables like broccoli, butternut squash, cauliflower, daikon radish, endives, edamame, peppers, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, and radishes are at their peak of seasonal freshness. Other vegetables like arugula, carrots, cabbage, cucumbers, garlic, green beans, kale, leeks, lettuce, spinach, and tomatoes are also available during this season of abundance. From Thanksgiving in America and Canada to Chinese Mid-Autumn festival, cultures around the world have celebrated the harvest of a wide variety of seasonal vegetables available to eat during this time of the year. 
 

Check out a variety of safe and fresh vegetables as well as 5,000+ products available online at www.epermarket.com.

This post is sponsored by Epermarket, an online grocery store with more than 5,000 imported and safe local goods and a growing selection of organic products – the largest online selection of its kind in China. Shop for fresh produce, personal care products, pantry staples, organic foods and high-quality imported meats and beverages with convenient customer service in English, French, German, and Chinese.

Photos courtesy of Epermarket