This is the story of the bean, the staple food cultivated by humans for over 10,000 years.
From the lentil to the soybean, every civilization on the planet has cultivated its own species of bean. The humble bean has always attracted attention - from Pythagoras' notion that the bean hosted a human soul to St. Jerome's indictment against bean-eating in convents (because they "tickle the genitals"), to current research into the deadly toxins contained in the most commonly eaten beans.
Over time, the bean has been both scorned as "poor man's meat" and praised as health-giving, even patriotic. Attitudes to this most basic of foodstuffs have always revealed a great deal about a society. Featuring a new preface from author Ken Albala, Beans: A History takes the reader on a fascinating journey across cuisines and cultures.
- 240 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
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Table of contents
- Cover
- Half-Title
- Title
- Contents
- List of Recipes
- Preface
- Preface, Acknowledgements and a Note on Recipes
- 1 Introduction
- 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
- 10 Limas and the Lesser Phaseoli: Andes
- 11 Tepary Beans: Native Americans
- 12 Soy: China, Japan and the World
- Postscript – The Future of Beans
- Bibliography
- Index
- Copyright
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Yes, you can access Beans by Ken Albala in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Politics & International Relations & Agricultural Public Policy. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.