Now I just have to figure out how to get that cerveza to you.
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.
Now I just have to figure out how to get that cerveza to you.
Beans, rice, cornbread and freshly made flour tortillas, Oh hell yes. I grew up on this. As a boy I would go out to the farm with my granddad. A sweet lady named Candilatia ran a canteen in her house for the farm workers. I often ate there. It was delicious. One little white boy sitting at the table with the Mexican workers eating her delicious food. It is fond memories. Fortunately I also spoke Spanish.
Candilatia was like a second grandmother to me. I miss those days of years ago.
Sounds perfect.
When I first saw ZZ Top’s Tres Hombres album art I thought “What the heck’s that”. Looked like mush.
Now it looks yummy!!!
I’ve always wanted to recreate that table setting but frankly that’s enough food to feed four people who like that cuisine as much as I do. Or at least two.
I’ve learned to make most of those items pretty well.
Never made my own tamales but I don’t see any in the pic.
Still ... good tamales are verrrry good.
I opened a can of Bush beans about 20 years ago and found 3 kinky pubic hairs floating on top.
That would’ve been the last can I opened.
It was.
Beano works.
“She’s as hot as a pepper, but smooth as a Mexican brew...”
Ooh. Fazool sounds like a rude noise. :)
We were fairly poor when I was growing up, and we ate lots of dinners that weren't very tasty, like cornbread and milk, or a single baked sweet potato or a sandwich with a thin smearing of "potted meat product" between the bread. Those are things I no longer eat. But we also had various types of beans. I have never stopped liking beans and still enjoy them. These days I have to watch my carbs, so I will not have things like red beans and rice any longer. Mostly I buy dry soybeans. They have a flavor and appearance similar to Navy beans or Great Northern beans, but they have the lowest carb count of all beans. There are also black soy beans which I add to chili.
“Beans and rice and cornbread. Sometimes with Worcestershire sauce. Maybe a sliced up onion on the side.”
Oh yeah. You forgot hot sauce.
There’s one recipe that I haven’t made in forever but I really like. You take dried kidney beans and soak them overnight. Then you put them in a dutch oven layering with bacon and onions then you cover with brown sugar and molasses, dry mustard, and then bake them for 10 hours. Serve with fresh homemade biscuits and butter
Makes me hungry just to write this down.
Better to fart and bear the shame
Than spare the fart and bear the pain
Beans in the pot; cane chairs at the table.
Pasta fazool is Sicilian-American slang for pasta e fagioli, pronounced fa-gee-O-lee, which means simply "pasta and beans." So delicious. You can make it either as a plate of pasta or with more broth, as a soup. Most cooks use cannellini or Great Northern white beans, and some add a few kidney beans for color.
Muy bueno mi amigo!
Just don’t overdo the soybeans if you or anyone in your family tree has thyroid illness. Soy also produces estrogen in the body, and vegetarian men can grow manboobs from eating too much soy.
Do you use any fresh water with that recipe?
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