How to Be a Conscious Eater

19

FREEZING

AND (GLOBAL) WARMING

A

strawberry right off the vine. A cucumber with a satis-

fying crunch. A tomato still warm from the sun. A wild

salmon eaten the day it was caught. You can see why

fresh is among the most beloved adjectives in the American

food lexicon.

But nutritionally speaking, frozen food is a revelation.

(Caveat patrol: Plenty of products found in the frozen food

aisles—from corn dogs to ice cream sandwiches—are only

vaguely reminiscent of real food. They’re highly processed,

with nutrition profiles you don’t want to shack up with.) Frozen

food is also a winner for cutting down on food waste. And ditto

for your grocery budget. Those fresh strawberries in the pro-

duce section may be delicious, but freezing them actually locks

in nutrients, which gradually degrade as produce ripens over

the course of transportation and while sitting out in grocery

stores for your perusal or on your kitchen countertop for easy

snacking. Plus—and of course it depends on the season—fresh

can cost more than twice the price of frozen. Not to mention,

it’s not very responsible (or tasty!) to eat some types of fresh

produce, like strawberries, year-round, since they’re in peak

season in most places only from about April through June.

Refrigeration is considered one of the greatest break-

throughs of the past two centuries. It has brought food safety,

longer shelf life, less waste, higher nutrition, and, by moving

fresh foods to places that need them through refrigerated

68 how to be a Conscious Eater