It is finally that time of year: fall! I always look forward to my apple cider and apple cider flavored doughnuts from the local orchards around this time of year. But why do I wait until this season to enjoy these particular items? Why don’t I consume them during spring instead? The answer is because the food product is “out of season.” I think that companies label foods as seasonal to cause a boom in certain foods every year. And for once, I think they’re right.
Though I once drank hot chocolate in the summer, it didn’t have the same effect as it always did whenever I would come in from sledding with the neighbors and curl up by the fire. There is something about the novelty of different seasons that resonates within each of us. The same occurs for certain seasonal activities; for example, people normally wouldn’t set out their festive winter decorations in the spring.
Enjoying our favorite seasonal foods and activities out of season would remove the traditionally exciting novelty of waiting a whole year to consume them. However, something to consider in the consumption of these seasonal delights is global warming. Recently, the temperature in Elizabethtown reached around 85 degrees at the beginning of October; the fall months should traditionally be cool. This being said, foods that would normally be obsolete become popular once more, like ice cream. Unnatural fluctuations in temperature result in some snacks and beverages to be eaten at unusual times.
If we enjoyed seasonal products willy-nilly, they would no longer be considered seasonal. Anticipating these products each year produces a hype that is enjoyed by most people. When I was about five years old, I once watched a Sesame Street Christmas episode in which Christmas was an everyday event. Everyone became so tired of the influx of presents that it was no longer something to be celebrated. The same holds true with these foods; too much of a good thing is never a good thing.
Putting this aside, why do we give certain seasons certain products? The answer is this: pumpkins are harvested in fall; therefore, pumpkin spice lattes would be considered a fall treat. However, one can easily obtain apples any time of year from his local supermarket, so what gives apples their seasonal value? Its harvest time? This seems to hold true for other products, such as oranges. We give particular foods their seasonal value based on the time they are harvested by our farmers. Makes sense, but we are still able to obtain treats that are out of season. Why do we wait until they become generally popular to go out and buy them? Society tells us that pumpkins are associated with fall, and ice cream is associated with summer. And yet, do we not enjoy ice cream year-round regardless?
Some foods are just downright more enjoyable in the “right” season. I, for one, don’t want to drink a chai tea latte in 90 degree weather; rather, I would gravitate towards my favorite iced drinks. Desserts are generally known to give people happiness, especially around the holiday season. Combining the two produces a major increase of money in the different food industries.
Certainly, there is no stopping anyone who desires to enjoy a seasonal product out of season, regardless of whether or not it would be hard to come by. However, there is a certain pleasure one receives when purchasing a certain product in season. It marks the passing of the seasons and the upcoming holidays.
I think it is better to enjoy these foods in the seasons that society tells us to enjoy them in, because there is a certain novelty in water ice in summer and hot chocolate in winter, though I do think one can make an exception, due to global warming, of when one consumes these delights.
