Restrictive New Year’s resolutions never sat well with me. A few years ago a friend told me they do permissive resolutions, saying “yes” to new experiences instead of “no”. With my interest in plants I decided to use this idea as a way to explore a plant family: Fabaceae.
The rule was simple: when offered something in the Fabaceae family I said “yes”. I read books about beans, starting with the excellent Ken Albala’s Beans: A History. I ordered beans at food carts and restaurants. I made bean memes. I sought out as wide a breadth of genuses and ways of preparation as I could. Even trying some poisonous beans.
I have worked sourcing ingredients for industrial food manufacturing for a long time now. I professionally learn about and seek out new to me foods. Doing my own BEAN YEAR was honestly transformational.
If you’re interested, I’d like to compile and curate what I learned and send them to you. The actual beans themselves. I’m not a great writer and for myself, when reading about beans I was regularly frustrated I didn’t have them in front of me. Beans, and all of our engagement with plants, is fundamentally experiential. It is knowledge you have to gain by doing not reading. For example I can’t explain the color transformation when you drop acid into a butterfly pea tea. I can’t explain the taste or sensation of the basic solution used to render lupini beans edible (they are generally otherwise poisonous). But I can gather these things and send them to you. And write up a little about them for guidance.
There are other bean clubs, notably Rancho Gordo. While there will inevitably be some overlap, I am trying very hard to offer something else. I’m going to theme things more and have a wider breadth of bean family represented. I also hope to incorporate more prepared ready to eat bean snacks or ingredients. Like chickpea or mesquite powder, herbs like astragalus and butterfly pear, or for soy bean month: powdered miso used in instant miso soup.
I hope you’re excited, I am.
Yours in beans,
Brian
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