Vegetables

As a result of sophisticated growing methods and refrigerated transport, vegetables are now available outside their natural season and many exotic and previously unheard-of varieties can be found in our shops. There is, however, nothing to beat local fresh vegetables in their natural season. If you are one of those lucky people who have the space to grow a few vegetables in their garden, there is nothing to beat it. The rest of us have to traipse around the supermarkets, gazing at clinically wrapped plastic trays of vegetables that may well have been sitting there for a week. As with all other produce, you cannot be expected to create a delicious meal from inferior ingredients. So spend a little more time over the buying of vegetables: go to a good local greengrocer who shops from the market daily, or perhaps to a market stall. In some country towns they still have the lovely twice-weekly markets where the farmers put on their stalls what they have dug up or picked that week, even if it is a few tons of potatoes.