Eat seasonal — why it really pays off

The honest answer first: nobody has to eat seasonally. In a Swiss supermarket you can buy strawberries from Morocco, tomatoes from Spain, and asparagus from Peru in February. It's allowed, it's available, it's not unhealthy.

The question isn't «are you allowed to», but «do you lose something if you do» — and yes, you lose three things at once:

1. Taste — the February tomato was picked unripe, ripened for four days on a truck, and is today closer to a ball of water than to a tomato. The August tomato from the market was picked fully ripe and tastes like a tomato accordingly. That's not a gut feeling — it's measurably less sugar, fewer aroma compounds, less lycopene.

1. Money — seasonal produce is on average 30–60 % cheaper than out-of-season air-freighted imports (see the asparagus example below in concrete terms). The price premium for «February asparagus» pays for logistics, not for growing it.

1. CO₂ — air freight causes 10 to 20 times the emissions of local seasonal produce (Ritchie 2020, Our World in Data). Even sea transport emits far less than air transport, so: «imported produce» isn't always bad — air-freighted produce is bad, and air-freighted produce is exactly what sits in the asparagus aisle in February.

The case for seasonal isn't «Mother Earth». It's «tastes better, costs less, is cleaner». Three sober reasons, three times yes.

A practical test you can easily do yourself: buy three tomatoes at the supermarket in February (whatever the origin), and buy three tomatoes at the weekly market or farm shop in August. Slice both thinly, take a bite, no salt.

You'll notice immediately: the August tomato has sweetness, acidity, a slightly fruity-green aroma. The February tomato has water, a hint of something, done. That's not subjective. It's measured:

• Sugar content of a fully ripe-picked summer tomato: clearly higher than a February import (around 50 % more sugar per gram of tomato, depending on the variety).
• Aroma compounds — a fully ripe tomato has over 400 different aroma components. A tomato picked unripe and gas-ripened loses many of them in the process.

The reason is logistics: a tomato harvested in Spain, shipped to Zurich, and sold there has to be picked unripe — otherwise it would be mush by the time it arrives. In the warehouse it's «ripened» with ethylene gas. This process changes the colour (red instead of green), but not the sugar development — sugar only forms in the living plant. A picked tomato can no longer build up sweetness, no matter how long it sits.

This pattern repeats with almost all summer fruit — strawberries, apricots, peaches, plums, grapes. Whoever has once tasted a Valais apricot in high summer won't look at apricots in February again. That's not a sacrifice — that's taste clarity.

The flip side: winter vegetables come off worse in summer. Savoy cabbage, Brussels sprouts, salsify — they taste better in November than in April. Thinking seasonally means focusing on the now, not on the year-round assortment.

Climate arguments about food are often discussed vaguely («buy regional, it's better for the climate»). Let's get concrete — figures from the Our World in Data studies:

• Asparagus from Peru by plane to Zurich: around 1.7 kg of climate gas per kilo of asparagus — for transport alone.
• Asparagus by truck from the Lower Rhine to Zurich: around 0.14 kg per kilo.
• Swiss asparagus in May from the farm shop: around 0.03 kg per kilo (short distance, small van).

The difference between local and air is about 50-fold, the one between local and EU truck about 5-fold. Two conclusions:

• Avoiding air freight is the big lever. Not «buy everything within 50 km» — that's overblown. But: February asparagus, November strawberries, January avocado are air freight. If you avoid those, you knock off 90 % of the climate effect.
• Organic import vs. conventional seasonal: conventional seasonal is often the better climate choice than organic-certified air freight. That surprises many people and is true anyway — transport weighs more than the cultivation difference.

That doesn't mean organic is irrelevant. It means: seasonal beats organic for the climate. Both together is ideal, but if you have to choose, «conventional seasonal» beats «organic by plane».

At the meal level, that makes a noticeable difference. A pasta dish with August tomatoes from the region: around 0.5 kg of climate gas in total. The same dish with February tomatoes by air freight: around 1.5 kg. Three times as much — for a result that tastes worse.

The price argument is rarely drawn clearly, but it's the most robust, because it has nothing to do with morals — it's simply maths. Three examples from Swiss retail (Coop/Migros sample May 2026, market prices vary):

• Swiss asparagus in May: approx. 5–7 CHF/kg (on offer), 8–10 CHF/kg regular.
• Asparagus import from Peru in February: approx. 20–25 CHF/kg.
• Swiss strawberries in June: approx. 6–8 CHF/kg.
• Strawberry import from Morocco in February: approx. 12–15 CHF/kg.
• Swiss tomatoes in August: 4–6 CHF/kg (farm shop) / 6–8 CHF/kg (supermarket).
• Tomato import from Spain in February: 6–8 CHF/kg at the supermarket, but: often smaller amounts per pack, so the effective price per kilo for pre-packed varieties lands at 10–14 CHF/kg.

The surcharge for out-of-season produce is 30 to 400 percent, depending on the product. That's not a hidden premium markup — it's logistics. Plane, cold chain, smaller harvest volume in the country of origin, middlemen. You pay for the distance, not the food.

Projected onto a weekly budget, for a 2-person household with normal vegetable use: whoever shops consistently seasonal spends an estimated 15–25 CHF/week less on vegetables and fruit than whoever imports the same favourite products year-round. Over a year that's 800–1300 CHF in savings — a good argument even for people who don't care about taste.

Buying seasonal doesn't mean «learning the seasonal calendar by heart». It means asking three small questions by reflex — while shopping, at the market stall, in the supermarket.

Question 1: Where does the product come from? Usually printed small on the label. Switzerland, Germany, Italy (Spain) → fine. Morocco, Turkey (for non-Mediterranean products), Peru, Kenya → probably air freight. Just two seconds of glancing at the label filters out 80 % of the borderline buys.

Question 2: Is it actually the right season in the country of origin? Strawberries from Spain in January = tunnel-grown or air-freighted (local season: April–June). Tomatoes from Spain in July–September = okay (local season). Avocados from Mexico in December = Mexico's local season (that fits). Quick rule of thumb: if you wouldn't see this plant growing outdoors in your country right now, it probably wasn't from here — Question 1 then decides the rest.

Question 3: Do I really need exactly this product now? If in February you absolutely want a tomato-mozzarella — buy it (knowing it tastes worse and costs more). If you're flexible — look at what's in season. February in CH: leek, Brussels sprouts, parsnips, Jerusalem artichoke, salsify, savoy cabbage, mushrooms, stored apples. There are excellent dishes in there — braised leek, creamed Brussels sprouts, Jerusalem artichoke soup.

The three questions take 20 seconds per shopping trip together. They don't change every purchase, but they shift the overall picture noticeably.

Seasonality is something that's hard to keep in your head. What's in season in May? Savoy cabbage — where you are? Rhubarb — yes, or over already? Fresh peas — not yet or already? Nobody remembers all that, and seasonal calendars in a book end up in the drawer after three weeks.

mangia has it built in. Feature: season detection per region.

• When you search for recipes, in browse mode, or in the weekly plan, mangia marks seasonal ingredients with a small season tag.
• In the weekly plan, a season score display shows how much of your week consists of seasonal ingredients.
• In browse mode you can activate the «Seasonal only» filter — then in February only savoy cabbage recipes show up, no summer salads.

The goal isn't «you have to eat 100 % seasonal», but «you see at a glance what the seasonal choice would be». For a 2-minute decision in the supermarket, that's enough.

Ready for the first step? Here you'll find quick, seasonal after-work recipes to start cooking straight away.