A FOOD FOR ALL SEASONS

Another Christmas has passed in a whirl of twinkling lights, naff jumpers and Brussels sprouts. No doubt we smug kitchen gardeners were patting ourselves on the back after another year of home-grown delights on the dinner table. Frost-sweetened parsnips dripping with butter, tender carrots and potatoes grown and roasted by our good selves. Not to mention the swede, turnips, cabbages and other winter treats. If you're reading this while Christmas memories are fresh, you might feel your waistline expanding just thinking about it. For some, it might even be too soon to talk about food full stop!

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We Brits are fond of roast dinners but outside of Christmas and possibly Easter, we wouldn't dream of such a huge feast. For a start, in the height of summer the idea of eating your body weight in roast potatoes and gravy isn't that appealing. On a hot summer's day you are much more likely to plump for a nice salad or a cool, fruity smoothie. Similarly, you're more likely to opt for the carvery than the salad if you find yourself in a pub on a blustery, cold day in February. The reason for these preferences might seem obvious: temperature. When it's cold outside my ratio of tea to fresh water tips drastically in favour of the warmer option. But there is more to it than that, and it's something we gardeners are more in tune with than anyone else.

As we dance through the seasons we change our behaviour as well as our eating habits. Here in the UK we experience fabulous seasonality with our weather. We can have very warm summers (despite that feeling a long way away at the moment!) and very cold, wet winters. Our bodies have to cope with a lot. During the winter, our bodies work hard to stay warm and fight off seasonal maladies. The reduced daylight hours and persistent grey weather mean that we don't get our usual dose of vitamin D from the sun. In the summer, hydration is a key requirement. This means that we need to drink plenty of water and also eat foods with higher water content.

VITAL VITAMINS