You’ll have to bear with me as I hash out this thought on my keyboard. It might be discombobulated, but I think it has legs and is an interesting thought…

While talking with a good friend last week, she pointed out how we (Americans) gauge our seasons by the flavors we put in our coffee drinks. I thought about that after she left and realized how right she is.

She deals with fresh food and their seasons. She runs our local farmer’s market and noticed how, for instance, when tomatoes are in season people are excited. But nothing like they are in the fall for “pumpkin”. We CAN get tomatoes in January or February, and people are excited when they’re in season. Same thing with strawberries, sweet corn, you name it. As Americans we can get these veggies on any day of the year. Now, obviously there is a difference in a tomato plucked from the vine in August vs. the one flown in from Argentina in January or the sweet corn in July vs. the pale pathetic excuse for corn that is shrinkwrapped on the shelves in March. Yet the level of excitement isn’t there with most of the people I deal with in the food world for those REAL seasons. What gets the blood pumpin’ is the Pumpkin Spice Latte, Soy Pumpkin Spice Chai Latte Frappucino Macchiato with a Shot. And the biggest one of all? The pumpkin cookie.

The theme here? “Seasonal” flavors.

When the leaves change and the weather gets crisp, my customers want pumpkin. Pumpkin everything. Lattes, Cappuccinos, Chais and especially Pumpkin Cookies. Now why, when canned pumpkin pie filling has no expiration date and is available 365 days a year, don’t we make pumpkin pie in July? Pumpkin is almost always served in its tin canned, preserved form. Why can a bottle of Monin Pumpkin Spice syrup last 8 months on the shelf in our coffee shop until September 1st and then, zip! we make 30 lattes and it’s G-O-N-E, gone

I make this observation, but I am just as guilty of the double standard as anyone. A pumpkin spice latte is comforting and delicious on a fall day, but wholly disgusting on the Fourth of July (iced or not).

I am not a “localvore,” I’d love to be, but it’s very difficult in Central Illinois and I am not up to the challenge. I love to cook and I NEED tomatoes in January. NEED them. During the summer months it is much easier, I can grow it or get it from the farmer’s market. I guess in a big way these vegetables and fruit have lost their season. The “specialness” has worn off as we bring oranges from Brazil and strawberries from all over South America. I imagine my grandfather as a young man in southern Illinois in the 1910’s and 1920’s eating all of the sweetcorn that he could from Aug 1st until it was gone and then waiting patiently until it was available again, next year. No wonder he always had such a kick-ass garden. It was what they lived for then. Imagine 3-4 months of pure delight, then canning for several weeks, then cold winters of boring, canned vegetables. No tomatoes from anywhere, no fresh berries, no apples, nothing but some root vegetables. Ugh.

What the pumpkin flavor symbolize to us must run very deeply. That autumn comfort food, the pumpkin, enhances the season and ironically is best served preserved and from a can.

So, while running our small bakery and coffee shop, one can’t help but notice the lines from the counter to the door and the phones ringing off the hook for the first pumpkin spice latte and a pumpkin cookie. But you’d better come soon, they go out of season in a few weeks.

:Brian McKay