A (Pungent) History of Beans

2024-01-17

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Why Pythagoras was afraid of a field of beans?Did really an angel decent from Heaven to cook up the most tasty bean soup in a Byzantine Monastery?Do the British love beans or is it just the canned beans?What's pease pudding and what Santorini Fava gotta do with it?And have you heard of this Lancashire delicacy called "parched peas"?This is the episode you've been waiting for! A universal history of beans!Yep. A global phenomenon! Beans have been eater in many forms and guises all over the world....

Why Pythagoras was afraid of a field of beans?

Did really an angel decent from Heaven to cook up the most tasty bean soup in a Byzantine Monastery?

Do the British love beans or is it just the canned beans?

What's pease pudding and what Santorini Fava gotta do with it?

And have you heard of this Lancashire delicacy called "parched peas"?

This is the episode you've been waiting for!

A universal history of beans!

Yep. A global phenomenon! Beans have been eater in many forms and guises all over the world. A fantastic resource for humans, and the environment.

When we say "beans" we generally mean all pulses, all legumes, not just the tinned variety from a very well known brand...in tomato sauce...

This covers lentils, chickpeas, black eyed peas, broad (fava) beans, lupins, peas and other "Old World" beans.

From Mesoamerica and the "New World" we got our many varieties of white, black, red, kidney, butter, runner beans and some crazy number of 3000 different varieties of beans!

Beans were important in all cultures, and a staple food, a sustenance for thousands of years.

From Ancient Egypt, to Greece and Rome, and Medieval Europe via the Arab world.

What's the older recipe we've got? And how is cassoulet made?

Links:

Academy of Cassoulet:

https://www.academie-du-cassoulet.com/la-recette-du-cassoulet/

Lentils of Eglouvi in The National Index of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Greece under the aegis of UNESCO

https://www.greekgastronomyguide.gr/en/item/faki-egklouvis-lefkada/

Theophrastus the father of botany:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theophrastus

Giant beans from Prespes:

https://www.poupadou.com/blog/en/area-prespes/