Why we celebrate winter vegetables

As a Professor of Practice at Oregon State University, my time is focused on supporting the local farming community. I spend a good deal of time writing grants that will fund research needed by farmers which can range from how to best manage late blight organically on a potato crop to sweet pepper trials to find which varieties grow best across many different farming environments. My first step in writing any grant proposal is talking with farmers in the community to understand their needs and priorities. Often their needs are more about marketing than research. It's great for a farmer to figure out how to successfully grow daikon radishes but how do we get people to buy them? How do we make lesser-known vegetables that grow well for farmers in our communities marketable? This is how I initially came up with the idea for the Eat Winter Vegetables campaign that I have been running for several years in the Pacific Northwest.

Why Winter Vegetables are Sometimes a Hard Sell

From a consumer perspective, winter vegetables are under-appreciated. They are often earthy, bitter, and sulfurous in flavor. People tend to be deterred by these flavors, preferring bright and sweet. Despite being culinarily adventurous myself and having an academic background in Horticulture, I grew up in Florida in a Sicilian family and thus had little exposure to flavors like these until in my 30s. Winter produce is foreign to even dedicated main season farmers market customers as many markets only run through October or shopper attendance drops significantly due to unpleasant weather spoiling an outdoor market experience. We can all go to the grocery store during the cold, dreary, wet months and buy familiar "summer" produce any time of year from all over the world. But that doesn't support, our local farmers which is what I designed the Eat Winter Vegetables campaign to do.