Seasonal foods and prissy chefs

This is one of my pet hates! So many times you encounter chefs that completely miss the boat.

So come November the asparagus sees the plate, having had more stamps than a student on a gap year travelling around Europe. Strawberries when the ground is as frozen as an ice cube. Now I love strawberries and asparagus as much as the next man. Here's the thing food that has to travel is far from it's best. Strawberries picked green and lacking sun to slowly ripen them and sweeten them are practically as acidic as lemons. Asparagus that's popped on a plane flown from South America is long past its best. For just like sweetcorn these are at there best as close to the field as possible.

What these prissy chefs miss is whilst we have nearly lost all notion of seasons, food is at it's best when in season. Strawberries picked with the sun on its red body embody the sweetness of summer. Asparagus picked with the morning dew wetting it's head has a subtlety that carries more than a green grassy flavour of travelled asparagus. Sweetcorns natural sweetness found in the kernel on the plant, as sweet as sugar, disappears as quickly as the morning dew in summer once picked.

Now I'm not against extending a season when we can. When trying to impress and wow lets highlight the best at its best. Just putting fancy ingredients on because we can is pointless.