I’ve been visiting New York City for over a week, sadly because my 97-year-old grandfather has been in the hospital. And in this time, I’ve eaten almost every meal out. Not by choice, necessarily, but when you’re getting together with friends or relatives in the evenings, going out to a meal is the easiest thing to do.

We have already pretty much said goodbye to tomatoes in California, and basil as well. But when we went to a quite good Italian place near my dad’s apartment on the Upper West Side the other night, I couldn’t believe there was a caprese salad, without basil, on the antipasto table.

While the brussel sprouts and mushrooms and grilled endive and marinated carrots and olives all looked delicious, the tomato slices were an embarressment. Why were they even on the table, I wondered. They were so pale, they didn’t even look like tomatoes, and I could tell they were hard as a rock. Why didn’t they just do without a caprese salad?

It’s true — I’ve become a whole lot pickier about my food these days, and not only because I’ve become a chef. When they included a few of the paltry tomato slices with buffalo mozarella on top of them on the antipasto plate we shared, I couldn’t help mutter about the sorry excuse for the tomato that was being offered us. My uncle, sitting next to me, said “Well, tomatoes aren’t in season now, Ms. Chef! If you don’t want it, don’t eat it!” I said “Exactly my point. Why are they even bothering, because when they’re not in season, they just don’t taste good.”

The same thing happened a few days later in the cafeteria of a well-known Jewish organization where a great-aunt of mine “works.” She invited me for lunch, and was having pains, so she didn’t want to walk out of the building. There was a platter of mixed fruit for dessert, and I could tell just by looking at it that I shouldn’t take any — especially the melon. My aunt encouraged me to take some, and when I said I could tell it didn’t look good, she said “I’ll eat anything, it doesn’t matter.” Then, when she put a piece of the cantaloupe in her mouth, she said it was awful, it tasted like a potato.

I don’t expect everyone to just stop eating certain things they like just because they aren’t local or in season. But it amazes me how people eat them anyhow when they don’t even taste good.