{"id":2826,"date":"2008-05-19T14:50:31","date_gmt":"2008-05-19T13:50:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/wp\/?p=2826"},"modified":"2018-02-20T15:17:46","modified_gmt":"2018-02-20T15:17:46","slug":"beans-a-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/beans-a-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Beans \u2013 A History by Ken Albala &#8211; review"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"text-element body\"> I was expecting a pamphlet. What is there to say about beans? Well, lots and it\u2019s much more interesting than I had supposed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"image-4-3 image-review alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/img\/beans.jpg\" alt=\"Beans a history\" width=\"261\" height=\"328\" \/>The author, Ken Albala, already has a good track record for writing food-related books. His others include Eating Right in the Renaissance and The Banquet: Dining in the Great Courts of Late Renaissance Europe. This book, however, concentrates on the food of the poor, food of desperation and famine.<\/p>\n<p>Raymond Blanc says of this book: \u201cA vividly entertaining history of the humble bean takes the reader on a curious, surprising ad exciting journey across epochs, continents and cultures.\u201d Couldn\u2019t put it better myself!<\/p>\n<p>This isn\u2019t a recipe book although it does have several dozen, mostly historic, recipes, or rather instructions on how to cook all kinds of beans; it\u2019s more a book that tells you everything you would ever need to know about the subject. Ken includes a chapter on \u201cOddballs and Villains\u201d. These are some nasties that are actually poisonous and have been revived, to a small extent, by the Slow Food enthusiasts in Umbria who insist that it is a traditional foodstuff in danger of disappearance!<\/p>\n<p>I had never thought of lupins as beans until I came across them in Madeira a few years ago. I might not have even tried them if I had known that, in their raw state, they can kill you. It takes lots of washing to remove the toxin and some of the bitter taste. I think the ones I had needed a bit more washing!<\/p>\n<p>Mexican Refried Beans are delicious and easy to make. Ken gives us directions for making these. It\u2019s not a recipe but a method. The same goes for Khichri which was the forerunner of the Anglo-Indian Kedgeree. The traditional version was rice, mung beans and spices and was a popular evening meal.<\/p>\n<p>As a kid I loved baked beans. As an adult and a passionate cook I thought that it wasn\u2019t a food I should admit to enjoying. These days I tuck into my beans on toast knowing they are quite good for me, quick, easy and comforting. Beans \u2013 A History persuades me that I am just continuing a long tradition. It\u2019s an informative and amusing book.<\/p>\n<p>Beans \u2013 A History<br \/>\nAuthor: Ken Albala<br \/>\nPublished by: Berg<br \/>\nPrice: \u00a314.99<br \/>\nISBN 978 1 84520 430 3<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Cookbook review by Chrissie Walker \u00a9 2018<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/tag\/ken-albala\/\"><strong>See more books by Ken Albala here<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was expecting a pamphlet. What is there to say about beans? Well, lots and it\u2019s much more interesting than I had supposed. The author, Ken Albala, already has a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24274,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,22],"tags":[14,765,767,768,649,769],"class_list":["post-2826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-cookbooks","tag-american","tag-beans","tag-beans-a-history","tag-food-history","tag-food-literature","tag-ken-albala"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2826"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2826\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26212,"href":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2826\/revisions\/26212"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}