This is a smart, slightly unsettling piece about what we now mean when we say fresh. Modern British starts with the pleasures of real seasonality, like asparagus and rhubarb, then shows how industrial storage and modern retail have flattened those rhythms.

The line that stuck with me is DEFRA’s position that picking and packing dates are not considered indicative of freshness or quality. In a system where produce can be stored for weeks or months before sale, “fresh” starts to look more like a marketing word than a useful description.