Read: Irish Examiner | Nutritious, delicious and climate-friendly beans

First published in the Irish Examiner on 4 January 2024.

January is a time of new beginnings and, often, new resolutions involving food. But this doesn’t have to be about hairshirts and denial. Having enjoyed ourselves in December, getting together with people over turkey and puddings and chocolate boxes and treats, doesn’t mean that we need to turn January into a grim food wasteland. Think less about ditching things from the diet and more about including something delicious, highly nutritious, sustainable and climate-friendly. That food? The humble bean, in all its many, varied and tasty forms.

Beans is How is an international campaign with the ambitious target of doubling the consumption of beans worldwide by 2028. Cork chef Ali Honour works with The Chefs’ Manifesto – a chef-led project bringing together more than 1,200 chefs in 92 different countries to look at how they can help deliver a sustainable food system – to get this proactive message across.

Beans is How is working towards achieving the UN’s second Sustainable Development Goal (SDG2) of zero hunger. The full aim of SDG2 is “to end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.” It’s a pretty big ambition, but beans may be the answer.

Honour explains that Paul Newnham, director of the SDG2 Advocacy Hub and coordinator of the Chefs Manifesto network, “wanted to find one ingredient, one food that ticked all the boxes.” Beans were chosen for many good reasons: they are nutrient-dense, can improve soil and water quality while they are being grown, are affordable and, best of all, they can be absolutely delicious. “By aiming to double consumption of beans in the diet globally,” says Honour, “we’re tackling climate change from the dinner table and trying to shift consumer attitudes.” Beans and other legumes like lentils, mung beans, broad beans, adzuki and black turtle beans are all on the list of Future 50 Foods, published in 2019 by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and food brand Knorr. These foods were chosen because they have a combination of high nutritional value and low environmental impact. Beans are also are inexpensive, accessible and are a rich source of fibre, protein and B vitamins.

So why don’t we eat more of them? For so many people, when beans are mentioned, their mind goes straight to that Wednesday night emergency tin of baked beans supper – and stops right there. This is where Chefs’ Manifesto members like Honour, with 30 years of food industry experience under her belt, come in. “Chefs come up with innovative ideas or swaps,” she says, “finding different ways to incorporate beans into dishes.” The Chefs’ Manifesto website has recipes for dishes like bean and chickpea tacos, pumpkin mochi with split mung bean filling, chickpea burgers and a lentil tart. Honour’s own Instagram feed (@aliinthekitchencork) is filled with ideas for dishes like braised miso, chilli and black bean mushrooms, bean and buckwheat pancakes and even chocolate and white bean brioche buns.

“I do a lot of work with sweet foods,” says Honour, “making nutritionally dense swaps, like including black beans in a brownie. I’m still having a brownie that tastes amazing, just with slightly different ingredients and it’s much more satiating.” Another experiment that she’s working on, with innovative Wexford chocolatiers Bean & Goose, is incorporating beans into chocolate bars. “It’s a development project but we need investment to get it on the shelf for 2024. It’s a great product. We’re using the most sustainable chocolate from Ecuador and incorporating a mix of butter beans and black beans to bring protein and fibre into the bars.” After encountering some of the test bars at Bean & Goose during the summer, I can attest to the fact that this is an experiment well worth watching out for.

Focusing on Irish-grown beans, what would Honour recommend? “You can grow beans in any climate, it’s all about growing for your particular climate,” she says. “There are loads of fresh beans that we can grow here: French beans, peas, broad beans and borlotti beans, for example. Brian McCarthy from Cork Rooftop Farm has grown lots of fresh beans and is working on growing a variety throughout the year. North Cork farmer Tom Fouhy is a guru in experimentation on a small scale, growing ancient grains, lentils and soy beans but,” she points out, “in order for our farmers to grow beans as a crop for eating, they need support.”

As an example of what can be achieved, she references UK company Hodmedods which works with a network of farmers to source and and sell dried and tinned British-grown pulses like fava beans, lentils and chickpeas. Starting out in 2012 with a tonne of British-grown split fava beans, Hodmedods now have a range of 20+ different legumes available on their website, including rare and unusual varieties like Gogmagog beans, black badger carlin peas and coral lentils.

For the bean-curious, Honour finds that key to making them accessible is to focus on what’s easily available.”You don’t have to soak beans – that’s no longer an excuse. Tins are key. They’re cheap, all beans are available in a tin and they’re a great simple meal. Even basic supermarkets have tins of beans. My cupboard is always full of different tins of beans! Freezer aisles have peas, green beans, often broad beans and edamame beans, which are fast and easy.” Bulking out January-friendly soups and stews with inexpensive beans, peas and lentils is an easy addition to the diet, helping the budget, our digestion and the environment. It’s a move that very much makes sense for Honour: “It’s about eating food that makes us happy, inside and out.”

Quick cheesy rarebit beans on toast
I still love beans on toast, it’s a true comfort food and there will always be a tin of my fav in the cupboard. We all have our brand – I have 57 reasons why I love mine! This also uses up bits of veggies and ends of cheese that you have available.

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
150g thinly sliced mushrooms or onion or both
1 ½ tablespoons Worcestershire sauce or teaspoon of Marmite (optional) or go for ½ tsp of smoked paprika.
2 fresh tomatoes, chopped
¾ teaspoon chilli flakes (adjust to taste)
¼ teaspoon salt
1 can baked beans in tomato sauce (such as Heinz)
4 slices ancient grain sourdough or bread of choice, toasted
Ends of cheese, grated or thinly sliced (eg cheddar, parmesan, brie or a mixture)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Method
Heat oil in pan, add mushrooms and / or onions and cook for few minutes, stirring as you go.

Reduce heat to medium. Add Worcestershire sauce (or Marmite or smoked paprika), tomatoes, chilli flakes and salt. Stir until well incorporated. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has evaporated and the mushrooms / onions are cooked, about 5 minutes.

Reduce heat to low and add beans. Cook, stirring occasionally, until thoroughly heated, 3 to 5 minutes.

Spoon ½ cup of the bean mixture onto each slice of toast and sprinkle with parsley. Top with cheese and grill for few minutes till golden and bubbling.