Beans: A History – Ken Albala

Thoughts: A surprisingly enjoyable read.

Takeaways: Chickpeas, as well as peas, are botanically beans. For a long time and in many parts of the world, beans have had a social stigma attached to them, being associated with lower classes. But despite being inexpensive, they’re very nutritious.

(The notes below are not a summary of the book, but rather raw notes - whatever I thought, at the time, might be worth remembering.)

Albala, Ken. 2007. Beans: A History. Berg.

1. Introduction

• 6: Within the family Fabacae, the following genera are the main ones eaten by humans:
• Phaseolus: New World beans, incl. kidney, pinto, navy, etc. - origin, basically: the Americas
• Vicia: Old World vetches, incl. fava - Eurasia
• Vigna: Black-eyed peas, mung - Africa, India
• Glycine: Soy - East asia

2. Lentils: Fertile Crescent

3. Lupines: Europe and Andes

4. Fava Beans: Europe

5. Peas, Chickpeas and Pigeon Peas

6. Oddballs and Villains

7. Mung and the Vignas: India

8. Black-eyed Peas: Africa, Soul Food

9. Phaseolus vulgaris: Mexico and the World

• 179: “There is a company called Goya, which caters to the specific culinary traditions of [several Hispanic groups in the Americas] with a huge range of canned beans, probably the best source of Phaseolus varieties in the US.”

10. Limas and the Lesser Phaseoli: Andes

11. Tepary Beans: Native Americans

12. Soy: China, Japan and the World

• 220: tempeh: originated in Indonesia, probably in Java. “It is made by taking quickly boiled and hulled soybeans and inoculating them with Rhizopus oligosporus mold…. Tempeh is very dense, slightly lumpy and in flavor very meaty, and with about 20 percent protein, it compares nutritionally with meat.”

Postscript