Seasonal and Savoury: Soups and Salads

🥕 Imagine biting into a strawberry in the middle of winter. It looks red, but it tastes of almost nothing! That is because strawberries are not in season in winter — they grow best in summer warmth. When we eat food at the time of year it naturally grows, it tastes better, costs less, and is kinder to our planet. Today we are going to explore seasonal food and learn how to prepare a delicious savoury dish! 🍲

Different fruits and vegetables are ready to eat at different times of year. In spring, look out for peas and spinach. Summer brings tomatoes, courgettes and strawberries. Autumn is perfect for pumpkins, apples and leeks. In winter, root vegetables like parsnips, carrots and swede are at their best. Choosing seasonal ingredients means you are using food at its freshest and most nutritious — nutritious means full of goodness that helps your body stay healthy.

Before food reaches your plate, it has quite an adventure! Vegetables are grown in soil on farms. Farmers plant seeds, water them, and harvest — harvest means pick and collect — them when they are ripe. Some foods, like milk and eggs, come from animals that are reared, meaning looked after carefully on farms. Fish and shellfish are caught from rivers or the sea. The shorter the journey from farm to your fork, the fresher the food! 🚜🐄🎣

Now for the exciting part — preparing your dish! 🔪 A seasonal soup or salad is a brilliant way to use fresh vegetables. Before you start, always wash your hands and your vegetables. Use a chopping board to protect the surface, and ask an adult before using a sharp knife. Curl your fingers under like a claw when you hold food — this keeps your fingertips safely away from the blade. This is called the bridge grip or claw grip.

When your dish is ready, it is time to evaluate it — evaluate means think carefully about how well it turned out. Ask yourself three questions: How does it taste? Is it salty, sweet, bland? How does it look? Are the colours bright and appetising? Is it nutritious? Did you include vegetables from different colour groups? Different coloured vegetables give us different vitamins, so a colourful plate is a healthy plate! 🌈🥗

Well done — you have explored the whole design and technology process today! 🎉 You learned what seasonality means, discovered how food travels from farm to fork, practised safe food preparation skills, and thought about how to evaluate your dish. Next time you visit a supermarket or market, challenge yourself to spot which fruits and vegetables are in season right now. Being a thoughtful food-maker means thinking about taste, nutrition AND the world around you! 🌱