Fundamentals of Natural Food to Heal Your Body [ 3 ]

Welcome back, my Jinpath Sik-Gu.

In our journey through George Ohsawa’s Principles of Natural Gourmet, we have explored Whole Food, Natural, Fresh, Organic, and Local. Step by step, we are awakening the natural intuition that modern life so often dulls.

6. [Seasonal]: Flowing with Nature’s Clock

The sixth principle is Seasonal. It is the simple, timeless wisdom of eating food in harmony with the season in which it naturally grows.

When I was a young boy, food belonged strictly to its time. Today, modern technology allows us to buy summer berries in the dead of winter. But in my childhood, nature dictated our menu, and every season carried its own distinct gifts.

One of the fondest memories of my youth is walking up a quiet mountain trail with my grandfather. He held one of my small hands, while in my other hand, I clutched a fresh, cool cucumber. As my grandfather walked slowly, conversing in low, warm tones with a monk, I listened to the forest around us—the rustle of leaves underfoot, the murmur of mountain streams, the soft calls of birds in the trees.

Whenever I felt warm from the climb, I would take a small, crisp bite of that cucumber. Back then, I thought my grandfather had simply handed it to me to keep me quiet so he could talk. But looking back four decades later, I realize his deep wisdom. He knew that a summer cucumber naturally cools the body’s internal heat and restores hydration. He was quietly protecting his young grandson from heat exhaustion long before I even understood what that meant. Even now, forty years later, the crisp, refreshing taste of that cucumber remains vivid in my heart.

Food created by the natural flow of the seasons carries a purpose. When we, as part of nature, align our meals with that seasonal flow, our bodies relax. We gain health effortlessly, simply by riding the rhythm of the earth. That is the essence of Seasonal.

The seventh principle is a particularly fascinating one.