Bean There, Done That

When I was working on Organic Inc., I marveled at the passions the prolific soybean fueled, from vegans dishing up tofu, tempe and soy milk; to raw milk proponents who view the bean as little more than a nasty toxin; to agribusiness giants who process it into soy protein isolate and then add it, like corn, to everything; to Asian cuisine, where the most sublime soy foods are found. Rarely has a bean meant so much to so many.

I knew there was more here than meets the digestive tract, so was pleasantly surprised to see a new book on the subject, Beans: A History by Ken Albala. The passions I encountered while researching soybeans were by no means unique. A “social stigma” against most beans, Albala writes, “remains firmly in place from the time of the ancient Greeks up to the 20th century.”

"The matter is not only gas but class," the Times review points out. "Because beans are cheap to raise and offer a protein payoff that is comparable to meat’s, poor people have traditionally eaten them. The plants that bear beans don’t appeal to the aspirational bourgeoisie. Beans are, in the developed world, markers of a hand-to-mouth lifestyle best left behind. 'In any culture where a proportion of people can obtain protein from animal sources,' Albala observes, 'beans will be reviled as food fit only for peasants.'”

A pity, since the lowly legumes are high in protein and fiber and low in fat. But as history shows, as incomes rise, people want meat.

- Samuel Fromartz

Image: soybeans, Wikipedia

Comments

[Tom Philpott]

Good post, Sam. Importantly, beans are not only high in lots of nutrients, but also in flavor. In visits to Chapel Hill, I've been getting fresh black-eyed peas at the farmers market--sublime sauteed with garlic and hot pepper and then lightly braised with a little vinegar. I can't imagine a world without either black (for Mexican food) or white (Italian) beans. Are fresh favas and limas not divine? A think a big part of the sustainable-food movement going forward is going to be to rescue the pleasures of old peasant cooking traditions -- which new how to tease great flavor out of "lowly" ingredients -- from mindless class prejudices.
Cheers,
TP

[Sam Fromartz]

Ditto whole wheat bread, another 'peasant' food that's healthier than white though that battle has been raging at least since the 1830s.

And yes, I'm a big fan of fresh fava beans. Hard to get but sublime -- with olive oil and garlic!

[Janet]

Thank goodness no one told me beans are declasse. I love them, from a nice lentil soup to great northerns and ham to a wonderful multibean stew to minestrone to...well, you get the picture.