08/17/2026
🍅 From the Summer Garden to the Winter Table
We Central Asians may not be Italian, but tomatoes are an important part of our cooking too. Tomatoes are used as a base for many soups, stews, and everyday dishes.
My own cooking has also been shaped over the years by different Asian food cultures, especially Japanese, Chinese, Korean and indian cuisine. One thing they have reinforced for me is the value of simple, seasonal food prepared with care.
Every spring I start growing tomatoes, care for them throughout the summer, and by August the preserving begins. Growing your own tomatoes is very different from simply buying them—you know how they were grown, when they were picked, and exactly what goes into the food you preserve.
🍅 And tomatoes offer more than flavour.
They provide vitamin C, potassium, folate and carotenoids, particularly lycopene. Cooking tomatoes can also improve the bioavailability of lycopene.
From a Traditional Chinese Medicine perspective, tomato is traditionally described as sweet and sour in flavour and cooling in nature, and is associated with generating body fluids—one reason it fits naturally into summer eating.
So part of my summer routine is turning the harvest into simple tomato sauce, and sometimes dried tomatoes, to enjoy during our long Canadian winter.
For me, holistic health doesn’t exist only in the clinic. It also happens in the garden, in the kitchen, and in the everyday choices we make about how we nourish ourselves and our families. 🌿
Grow in season • Preserve in season • Nourish through the seasons
