You probably make fun of beans
On this past weekend's airing of Wait Wait… Don't Tell Me!, the NPR news quiz, host Peter Sagal challenged call-in guest Tiffany Washburn to explain the quote, "Interest is surging in the tiny bulbous legumes." Tiffany correctly sleuthed out that legumes = beans, and said so.
Sagal then elaborated, "Yes. Economists right now are pointing to a somewhat troubling indicator. Americans are buying lots and lots of beans. I was worried when I saw The New York Times say ‘seven delicious meals you can cook over a trash can fire.’" Cue laughter.
Now, we are not trying to throw a damp blanket onto a hilarious, roaring trash fire. But after some more LOL-ing about bean-boosted flatulence and the smugness of vegans, one of the show's guests, podcaster Luke Burbank, offered: "I have to say, like, I know that this is sort of NPR framing this, the fact that people can't afford maybe to eat the kind of protein that they would like, which would be more like meat-based, chicken-based. But as a person who is generally speaking, mostly vegetarian, I'm appreciating some people coming over to our slightly gassy side of the fence on this." Poor, poor, pitiful Luke.
This is a common exchange. The mainstream voices declare that beans are a cheap food that makes people fart, and the wee flexitarian pipes up to say that actually they are kinda nice and helpful.
Even among our friends, the joke that we're sellin' beans fer a livin' has a lot of mileage.
But there's something else going on here, more broadly. The ever-unassuming bean is given a short moment at the microphone. And after the air has been cleared of the obvious fart jokes, beans quietly justify themselves.
Yes, they're inexpensive. Yes, they might make you fart a little. But they're also -- just to state some increasingly common knowledge -- one of the foods most recommended by cardiologists, nutritionists, and climate scientists; the best source of whole-food (i.e., not from bran cereal) dietary fiber in your diet; and a rich culinary tradition in many cultures (think: hummus, dal, frijoles refritos, Hoppin' John, edamame, cassoulet, pasta e ceci, etc.).
Like Luke, we know beans don't shout. They whisper. So in a world that is shouting fart jokes as loudly as possible, we would like to invite you into a quieter, healthier corner, where there are still fart jokes, but everyone's in on them.
Bean appetito and buon appebeanto,
Tully + Lili
P.s. We soak our chickpeas overnight to improve digestibility. And we haven’t found that our tootiness goes up when we eat our granola. Have you?