Culture | World in a dish

The joy of gardening

The crops can be delicious. But that is not the real point

IMAGINE A PLATE holding two strawberries, identical in appearance. One came out of a clamshell supermarket box, meaning it was probably harvested when it was still unripe, immediately placed in a forced-air cooling unit, loaded onto a refrigerated truck and driven hundreds of miles. By the time it reached the plate it may have been off the vine for two weeks. The other strawberry was picked from a garden minutes before being eaten.

This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “The garden path”

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