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becoming madame, cooking, eating in season, food, french cuisine, french culture, fruit, health, healthy living, Life in Paris, savoir-vivre, Travel, vegetables
Eating in season is probably rule number one when it comes to traditional French savoir-vivre. Over here in France this way of eating is not only logical but practical. Unlike in North America where just about any fruit or vegetable is available twelve months of the year thanks to refrigerated transport trucks and Hydroponics, in the outdoor markets of France and even in the grocery stores, you cannot find strawberries in December or clementines in June. Fresh produce is bought and sold according to the natural cycle of Winter, Spring, Fall and Summer.
It’s true that in some French stores nowadays you can find certain varieties of apples all year around. But if you pay attention to who buys them, in Paris anyway, it’ll be the tourists, the new comers, the visitors, perhaps ever now and then the young who are cooking for themselves for the first time. As a general rule, the French tend to stick to their seasonal eating habits.
I have to admit that when I first came to France I had no idea when certain fruit or vegetables were in season. Well, that’s not completely true. I knew that citrus fruit were winter produce because when I lived in Florida January was the cultivating season for oranges and grapefruits. Yet, for the most part, when I arrived in Paris, I thought France had a very small selection of produce in their grocery stores compared to what I was used to at Whole Foods, Loblaw’s or Publix.
Over the years, quite contrary to my first impressions, France has introduced me to a whole world of fruits and vegetables I never knew existed. Like fresh prunes, Mirabelle and figs in autumn, or black tomatoes, chestnuts, black radishes, elderberries or even sunroot or parsnip. I grew up eating carrots, celery with peanut butter, potatoes with sour cream, strawberries sprinkled with sugar, bananas and grapes.
I thought lettuce came in three varieties: Iceberg, Romaine and Bagged Mix.
In an effort to share some of the knowledge I’ve gained by immersing into the French culture, here is a list of fruit and vegetables by their proper season.
Bonnes courses!
Spring:
Vegetables
- Artichokes
- Asparagus
- Avocados
- Beets
- Carrots
- English or Snow peas
- Fava beans
- Green beans
- Green garlic
- New potatoes
- Radishes
- Rhubarb
- Spinach
- Bitter lettuces (Arugula, French/Belgium endives, Escarole, Chicory)
- Vidalia onions
- Zucchini
Fruit
- Apricots
- Cherries
- Strawberries
Summer:
Vegetables
- Beets
- Corn
- Cucumbers
- Eggplant
- Fresh herbs
- Garlic
- Green beans
- Okra
- Onions
- Potatoes
- Summer squash
- Summer lettuce (Romaine, Mâche, Butterhead, Oak Left green/red)
Fruit
- Blackberries
- Blueberries
- Figs
- Grapes
- Limes
- Mangos
- Melons
- Nectarines
- Peaches
- Plums
- Raspberries
- Tomatoes
Fall:
Vegetables
- Arugula
- Beets
- Bell peppers
- Broccoli
- Brussel sprouts
- Cabbage (green, Napa, red, Savoy)
- Celery
- Chard
- Fennel
- Garlic
- Green tomatoes
- Kale
- Leeks
- Mushrooms
- Parsnip
- Pumpkins
- Radishes
- Rutabagas
- Shallots
- Shelling beans
- Turnip
- Winter squash (acorn, butternut, spaghetti)
Fruit
- Apples
- Cranberries
- Figs
- Grapes
- Kiwi
- Mirabelles
- Pears
- Persimmons
- Pomegranates
- Prunes
Winter:
Vegetables
- Avocados
- Beets
- Broccoli
- Brussels sprouts
- Cabbage (green, napa, red, savoy)
- Carrots
- Cauliflower
- Chard
- Fennel
- Green onions
- Kale
- Parsnips
- Sweet potatoes
- Turnips
- Wild mushrooms
- Winter squash (acorn, butternut, spaghetti)
- Yams
Fruit
- Citrus (grapefruit, lemons, oranges, tangerines)
- Dates
- Pears
Becoming Madame 
It’s the same in Italy. I’m fully converted to eating fruit and vegetables in season.
It’s very similar here in Spain and initially I, too, thought the choice was really limited but soon learned that this was no limitation but rather an invitation to live more in harmony with the seasons and to actually eat more healthily. Nice piece. 🙂
Thankyou for this post! I’ve recently been teaching myself about eating when in season, i was just about to search online for a guide to what is and isn’t in season. Useful post and a thing that more people should be aware of!
🙂
Great post. Love seeing all the different groupings by season. I’ll have to print this out and use it. 🙂
I hope you do! I have it on my fridge.
Beautiful pictures, and very helpful information.
Merci beaucoup!
Nancy
je vous en prie, Madame! 🙂
I totally agree; hydroponics is hopefully going to be the wave of the future. It’s also great because you can give people access to food that they might not be able to get in their home areas, as opposed to the conventional ways of agriculture. Great post and I look forward to sharing more with you:))
During my first visit to an American supermarket, I felt like a kid in a candy shop 🙂 I did my fair share of off-season fruit eating while living in CA, but after moving to Chicago I learned to eat more seasonally.
I think it’s safe to add peppers to the summer vegetable collection. My parents grow banana peppers and a similar color bell pepper in the summer.
True enough! And of course these lists may vary depending on the climate one lives in. Thanks for stopping by!
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Really interesting stuff! Even though those foods are available year-round in America (and I’m glad for that!), picking your fruits and veggies by these seasonal lists is like living life a little like the French. 🙂 And it’s a good way to mix up what kinds of produce we eat.
You’re right, it adds variety to your cooking and I have a feeling it helps your digestion to vary your food a little. I like the fact that I now look very forward to the beginning of strawberry season in May.
I’ve been into a farmer’s market kick lately, so I’ve been eating seasonally without really trying for the last couple weeks. I like the idea of that though. That’s definitely not an american habit.
Do you find the produce much more expensive at farmer’s markets where you live?
It’s actually cheaper, since I’m not getting a huge grocery store mark up on top of the cost. As soon as I realized how close they were to my house, I became an instant convert.
The pictures of the market stalls are really good. I love the way the French present vegetables like this. The best I saw was in a market in La Rochelle where the market trader had gone to enormous trouble to make it look attractive. Thanks for the memory nudge!
Nice post.
There’s a running joke in my house that every time I walk past a tomato in the supermarket I have a melt-down because ‘these tomatoes are rubbish, they’re not properly red and they don’t smell of anything!’ That’s probably because they are out of season and harvested before they are properly mature. I have this vivid memory of going to an Intermarche in France one summer after having lived in the UK for quite a few years and having a moment of revelation at being able to smell the tomatoes before I could even see them. I was a bit relieved to know that I hadn’t dreamt the fact that ripe tomatoes have a wonderful smell.
It’s so funny you should mention tomatoes. I used to hate them back in North America, but now in France I love them. In summer, I can eat them like an apple. And so many varieties! Thanks for stopping by!
I tend to eat, in season in England but many foods aren’t really in season but harvested in Autumn and stored through the winter. The climate here is a little different, not quite as mild as France and so the summer season is shorter. I like the photographs in this post; well done! I’ll re-blog this to my blog!
Reblogged this on Mike10613's Blog and commented:
This is an excellent post. I tend to eat ‘in season’. I eat salad in summer and root vegetables in winter more; but this is a different way of looking at it.
Thanks Mike!
The book French Women Don’t Get Fat says the same thing. Stuff always tastes better when in season!
I like your post…as I recognize it as a dutch girl living in Italy. In the Netherlands (Rotterdam) you can buy any fruit or vegetable any time of the year while here in Italy they also have certain type of food only in certain seasons…
🙂 Oh and thanks for your ‘like’ on my blog..
Your lists are full of goodness and common sense! I grew up on a farm and your writing took me back to my roots. (Literally and figuratively!) What upsets my balance (even worse than eating things out of season) is consuming “genetically altered” ingredients — wheat, corn, etc. — my body can tell the difference. You’re right — it’s best not to mess with nature. To everything there is a time and a purpose — and a season…
That’s interesting. I don’t think I’m yet at the point where I can tell the difference, but I’d like to be! Like you, eating in season has already gained my entire appreciation!
Reblogged this on Traveling Vegan.
Brilliant! Yet astoundingly simple.
Can’t help it… your list made me yearn for summer when we harvest our own fresh, tasty tomatoes and wow, those new potatoes… Interesting list, plenty to eat in-season without importing off-season fruits and vegs. Thanks for stopping by and liking my post!
Thanks for visiting my blog! Eating in season is an awesome way to learn how to use various vegetables and good for supporting local farms. My husband and I have a friend who owns an organic farm in this region and it’s introduced us to certain vegetables that we don’t normally use. In the winter, I’ve learned to be more creative with root vegetables.
I had the same experience in France. It’s remarkable how many varieties there are we don’t know about.
Down the road here in Lausanne, there are two schools of thought. One: buy locally and seasonally. The other: truck it in. In the ordinary supermarket today, strawberries were on sale, shipped in from La Huelva (Spain). An old lady I passed already had her punnet. (Some of) the older generation would say “why not? who wants to eat nothing but cabbage in winter?”. Others would not agree.
Personally, I find it way more interesting to shop, cook and eat seasonally (at least, it’s the reason that goes beyond all the principles). Not only does allow the food to taste of something, unlike those strawberries from Huelva, it gives you an opportunity to anticipate (and to miss!) certain things, and it makes you focus on things you wouldn’t have tried before (thanks for your like on my experience with the dread beetroot, by the way!) and try them in different ways.
Lists full of good eating! Great, colorful post…I love the photos too.
They remind me of one of my favorite photos….the outdoor market on Rue Cler. 😉
Thanks for a great post…as always!
Thanks for the great list by season! I do try to stick to seasonal fruit as they usually just taste better. Recently my husband just had to have tomatoes (totally out of season here) so I bought some for him. Sorry I did! They had no flavor whatsoever. Back to the seasons! Today’s grocery bags included lots of citrus, pears and avocados..
Thank you so much for sharing this! I am going to have to print this out and keep it on my reminder board. My aunt and I were discussing this very topic not too long ago. She explained how eating in season helps to build our defenses.
That’s what I have also known all my childhood in my home country Romania. Now you can find tomatoes also in winter, but they have no taste and I don’t eat them. I too,prefer the fruits and vegetables when it’s the season and they are tasty and don’t feel like plastic.
There is a way to eat produce in season in the United States. All one need do is shop Farmers Markets if one is near where they live. Since we live in Northern California near San Francisco, the Farmers Markets are great and the quality of fruits and vegetables cannot be matched in the markets.
In fact, due to the California weather, we have fresh in season fruits and vegetables all year. In the winter and spring there are oranges and grapefruit while in summer there are peaches, etc.
For example, during the orange season, we eat juicy, sweet naval oranges picked ripe from the tree sometimes the day before. Once the orange season is gone, other fruit appears. What’s really great is most of the vendors allow samples so one may discover the best tasting fruit and regular customers make friends with the farmers they buy from.
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Thank you so much for this! Here in the Moroccan desert, the food we get is VERY seasonal, which is nice but definitely has its drawbacks; for example, in the summer it was so hot (140F) that produce was continuously rotting. It was completely impossible to eat anything fresh until mid-September. Also, we don’t have awesome things like broccoli and spinach, two of my staples in the States. Fig season was literally a week, so my mouth waters when I see your pictures of figs and fois gras!
Oh my goodness, that’s HOT! I can’t handle heat like that. I’m a redhead with the whitest skin you can imagine, so sun and heat like that – I almost perish at the thought. 🙂 What kinds of seasonal foods do you have there, then, say in summer or spring? I have yet to visit Morocco. My husband would like to, but I think we’ll have to come in the dead middle of winter for me to survive. 🙂 All my best from Paris.
In the summer, there was nothing; all of the produce was perpetually rotting from the sun, as you can imagine! I live in the south of Morocco in an oasis, so yes, it’s a total nightmare in the summer months, but it’s been pleasant since then. These days, it’s about 25 – 30 degrees celsius during the day, but it does get very cold at night. Avoid June, July, and August, and you should do fine!
There are lots of French and German tourists who come to my town for camel excursions, since it’s close to the sand dunes. If you do end up coming, I’ll be happy to help set you up with a tour company, as I know all of them.
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