Posted on 02/10/2022 5:57:56 PM PST by nickcarraway
Besides being viewed as "poor people's food," the bean’s “magical” quality has also contributed to the decline in consumption.
Beans have been a dietary staple in Mexico for millennia, but their per capita consumption in the country has dropped by nearly 50% in recent decades, according to one food scientist.
“It’s real sad because the average Mexican now consumes less than 20 pounds of beans per year,” said Amanda Gálvez Mariscal, a food and biotechnology researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).
That figure is almost half of what it was in 1980, when the per-person consumption of the humble frijol was as much as 35 pounds a year, according to the federal government’s agricultural trusteeship FIRA.
“It’s a shame, not only because beans are an important source of vegetal proteins, but also because Mexico is a center of origin and diversification of beans,” said Gálvez.
One reason for the decline in the bean’s popularity on Mexican dinner plates is the reputation it has for being cheap and therefore a “poor man’s food.”
But the bean’s undeserved infamy doesn’t fully explain the drop.
Gálvez also attributed the trend to the fact that, like elsewhere in the world, processed foods have become much more popular in Mexico over the last four decades — and aren’t very many bean-based processed food items on the market.
Also to blame is the bean’s well-documented “magical” quality.
“Beans also cause flatulence if they’re not prepared properly at home,” added Gálvez.
But beans weren’t always held in such low esteem in this part of the world, according to renowned culinary historian José Iturriaga de la Fuente.
He included beans — most commonly pinto in the north, and black in the central and southern parts of the country — in what he called a gastronomical “trilogy” alongside corn and chiles.
“There are many other ingredients in our cooking, of course, but this trilogy is the core of the Mexican diet,” said Iturriaga.
The trilogy is so important thanks to the manner in which these three foods compliment each other.
As a cereal, the corn in the tortillas provides calories in the form of carbohydrates, as well as a small amount of protein, but the human body doesn’t process these proteins easily.
The beans provide the main supply of high-quality proteins, which are much more easily processed by the body and, when combined with those in the corn, approximate to the levels of protein derived from meats.
The third branch of this trilogy, the spicy chiles, provides the same things that any other fruit provides: vitamins and minerals.
However, Mexican scientists have found that the capsaicin — the substance in the pepper that bites back — helps the body better process those stubborn proteins in corn.
The well-balanced diet of this trilogy has been nurturing bodies in this part of the world for thousands of years, and the beans weren’t always so looked down upon.
“It’s interesting, because it has been seen historically as an underdeveloped diet, a ‘third-world’ diet, an Indigenous peoples’ diet,” said Iturriaga.
“The pre-Hispanic Indigenous peoples of Mexico — Mayans, Zapotecs, Aztecs, and others — who constructed what are now some of the world’s most important archaeological sites — Chichén Itzá, Uxmal, Monte Albán, Teotihuacan, Tajín, etcetera — they all ate corn, beans and Chile,” said Iturriaga.
“But it wasn’t just the builders and bricklayers. We’re talking about the priests, the military generals, the rulers. Everyone, people from all social strata ate this basic trilogy,” he said.
Herbs such as cilantro will reduce the flatulence caused by eating beans. (Pixabay image via Courthouse News) Chef Lalo Plascencia also hailed the nutritional value of the corn-bean-chile trilogy, and noted how public opinion of this diet has clashed with that brought over from Europe and industrialized over the last century.
“Unfortunately, this diet has been given pejorative connotations that are evidenced in some of the most lapidary popular phrases in the vernacular of Mexico,” said Plascencia, founder of the Center for Gastronomical Innovation in Mexico.
He cited phrases that associate beans with poverty, such as “Even if it’s just a humble plate of beans,” and “To add water to the beans,” the latter meaning to get the most out of a scarce resource.
Readers north of the border will most likely be aware of a certain racial slur based on the not humble, but venerable and nutritious, bean.
In 2019, the United Nations named Feb. 10 World Pulses Day (pulse is the proper term for the dried seeds of legumes such as beans, lentils, and chickpeas) to increase awareness of the nutritional value of these low-fat, high-protein and high-fiber foods.
Beans and other pulses have been shown to increase food security, improve soil quality and combat obesity, among other benefits. They truly do not deserve the bad rap they often get.
Chef Plascencia travels the world sharing his expertise in Mexican cuisine, including techniques on how to properly cook beans to make them not only taste delicious, but also avoid that unwelcome “magical” property that often impels diners to order a different side with their enchiladas.
The best way to avoid a gassy evening is to take the time to cook beans properly, which means cooking them slowly. It is best to soak them overnight and change this water out before boiling them.
Gálvez, the food scientist, said herbs and spices like cumin, fennel, cilantro and epazote (which might be called Mexican tea in supermarkets north of the border) can also be added to a pot of beans to reduce unwanted post-dinner emissions.
Courthouse News correspondent Cody Copeland is based in Mexico City.
It’s just to hold the tamale together while cooking.
I’m having a hard time believing that spices cut down on the bean magic. Anybody heard of this?
I’m also not convinced that you can prepare beans so they don’t produce gas. I had heard this claimed so often that I figured there must be something to it, but then I read an article, I think by Kenji Lopez-Alt over at Serious Eats, where they tested various preparation methods and carefully observed the results and found them to be equally musical.
Definitely throw it away.
My understanding is beans contain an abundance of a complex sugar that we can not taste nor digest. But the bacteria in our lower gut loves it and guess what’s the byproduct?
That’s why soaking overnight in water helps. The sugar culprit is water soluble and is drawn out by soaking. Rinsing canned beans helps the same way.
Beans contain some indigestible sugars. Cooking well and some spices may produce enzymes that help digest these sugars, but not completely. It is what it is.
Beans and rice and cornbread. Sometimes with Worcestershire sauce. Maybe a sliced up onion on the side.
If this isn’t good eating, the problem is you.
You throw away the corn husk. Think of a tamale as an old Mexican breakfast bar. The husk is the wrapper. You can put a few in your pouch and eat em when you are out on your travel or your hunt.
Apparently in post WWII Japan starvation was an immediate danger as we moved in to occupy. We send massive amounts of beans to a nation that had no history of them.
The women said they were thankful, but were mortified and embarrassed that the beans made them “so rude”.
You can eat pretty good on food stamps.
Yeah, you can make fartless beans. Soak em overnight, dump the water, and then cook em slow. Also Beano really works. Also your system gets used to them if you eat them often.
The merriment occurs when some city girl eats her twice a year bowl of beans.
Two words:
Pasta
Fazool
Right, it’s the complex sugars that do it but I’m not convinced that soaking has much effect. I used to always soak my beans, but since reading that article I’ve experimented with skipping it and I can’t tell much difference.
Free cervezas for anyone who knows the origin of that pic.
I agree that it’s not a perfect solution. But, I’m convinced it helps. There will always be some significant amount of sugar retained even after soaking.
Regarding the issue at hand, I see a big difference in the consequences of beans I have soaked, well rinsed and cook at home verses those served at various local Mexican restaurants.
I’ve tried every method of de-gassing beans I’ve ever heard of and none of them has made any difference for me.
I still love ‘em though.
Eat them, enjoy them and spend the next two days alone. My first husband could blow the back door off the house.
LOL
Well, I’ve spent the last 15 years alone so I might as well enjoy myself “musically.”
And you can add some pineapple to your beans....which later on will result in Hawaiian music....very nice.
ZZ Top Tres Hombres
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