Give Peas a Chance – Atlantic Ocean

Produced by ElevenLabs and News through sound (Noah) Using AI-powered narration, listen to more stories on the Noa app.

I love a good cup of beans, add vinaigrette to a salad, spoon over pasta, serve on a plate with rice and corn. Beans are powerful little foods that also have the ability to transform. Many people can appreciate that these legumes are cheap and healthy. But it still lacks widespread admiration or respect.

But over the decades Atlantic Time and time again, writers have turned to the revolutionary potential of beans. small beans That doesn’t look beautiful and is full of protein. It is a source of inspiration for those wanting to create a new food system. Fight climate change and adding better flavor to American homes. In his 1975 article “Soybeans to Feed the World?” historian Richard Rhodes noted the central use of soybeans in American cuisine. “We still sing the Amber Waves. Not a dusty pea pod,” he laments in the opening line.

Noting that soybeans were considered No. 1 at the time, Rhodes reasoned that Americans should eat them as the nation’s No. 1 source of protein, rather than feeding farm animals what later became dinner. “The transformation of soybeans into human food is worth looking at,” he wrote. (There are about 30 grams of protein per cup.) Alas, soybeans are still the main source of livestock today, except small percentage Used to make popular dishes such as tofu.

In 2017, James Hamblin made the urgent climate case for replacing beef with legumes in the American diet. This is because cows are one of the leading sources of agricultural greenhouse gases worldwide. And it takes up a lot of farmland. Hamblin explains that by replacing beans with beef, the U.S. could “achieve the required reductions of between 46 and 74 percent” to meet 2020 greenhouse gas emissions. target Set by President Barack Obama in 2009 (Americans are not wholesale rejecting beef in favor of beans But for the most part This is because the pandemic has slowed down travel and economic activity. So we ended up with Achieve those climate goals.–

Part of the problem with beans is that they’re not a very interesting food. In a 1992 article, food writer Corby Kummer acknowledged the “bland” nature of beans before walking readers through the methods. To prepare delicious and easily digestible bean dishes But for horticultural writer Richardson Wright, the pea’s humbleness is what makes it heroic. During World War II, he wrote, “The coincidences of Saturday night and baked beans have their origins in God. and with the zeal of new converts So I insisted that we practice” in times of loss. Beans in a pot, which he called The “abundant lentils” are likened to the floury body prepared for baptism. Can mean everything The quasi-religious tone of his Proustian meditation on nuts is moving, however, his food choices stem from desperation and a limited food allotment.

The image of nuts is a backup when you don’t have any or can’t afford something better. It proved difficult to shake.– Even though vegetarian diets are on the rise and Americans are aware of beef’s environmental impact, But eating meat remains an intractable part of American life. For the modernization of bean soup and Rancho Gordo Subscription In the past few years Many Americans still haven’t made legumes central to their diets. One estimate It found that in 2019 the average American ate about 55 pounds of chicken per year, compared to about 2.5 pounds of cooked black beans. (American bean consumption remains low compared to other countries.) Yet there’s reason to hope: Americans are turning to Cream made from chickpeas new york restaurant Food made from beans is being served. and climate campaigns have a relationship To the United Nations is push to double Global Nut Consumption by 2028 Although nuts may not be the flashiest ingredient, But it still continues. And maybe even create a world that’s better than it looks.