Customer Reviews

Beans: A History

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I loved Kurlansky's COD and very much liked his SALT. I found Foster and Cordell's "CHILIES TO CHOCOLATE: Food the Americas gave the World" fascinating. And I love eating beans, from garbanzos to black beans to lentils.

So, I like the genre to which "BEANS: A History" belongs as well as the subject itself.

However, I found myself wondering, "What is the point the author is trying to make?" or perhaps "What is the direction of this book?".

The table of contents implies that this book is focused around a "bean by bean" approach. However, only the chapter on soybeans seems to fit that bill. None of the other chapters seem to be a coherent discussion about each bean (or group of beans). Instead, the chapters seem to meander around, seemingly without direction, excepting for the author's fixation on the historical association between the eating of beans and being poor. Honestly, it seems that well over a third of the book is dedicated to making this single point, with endless quotes to support it, often obscuring the boundaries between chapters.

What I craved in this book is closely approximated by his final chapter, which is on Soybeans. Here he starts with its known beginnings, how and why its use morphed over time and varied from place to place. He discusses (but does not fixate upon) its role in society. He gives interesting facts about its biology. At the end of the soy chapter he does, alas, wander off-topic into a confusing discussion about the pros and cons of genetically modified foods -- an interesting topic, but one that should be reviewed by someone more expert and not discussed parenthetically as it is here; similarly, he meanders briefly off into the field of medicine, where mistakes are definitely made(including confusing the findings of scientific medical studies with non-science based/unstudied proclamations), and he sometimes contradicts himself.

Finally, the recipes seem strewn in almost randomly. Sometimes they illustrate points, but other times not. Some interesting from a cooking-in-your-own kitchen standpoint, sometimes from a historical standpoint, and sometimes ????

In the end, I was rather disappointed by this tome. There are interesting nuggets to be dug out.... but I would like more from my reads than that.

Steven Mlodinow

One of the pleasures of reading is to come across a book with subject matter that not only takes you by surprise--but actually defies any expectations you might have based on its title. I mean, who would expect, what would you expect from, a book simply titled: Beans - A History? Well what you get in this instance is an absolutely delightful survey of the role that beans have played in human history. Yes--those beans: baked beans, navy beans, green beans, lima beans, soy beans, fava beans. And then many other familiar foods that we don't necessarily think of as belonging to the bean family--peas, peanuts, chickpeas, lentils. In his wide-ranging and graceful cruise across the millennia and continents, the author manages to combine careful botanical facts with relaxed historical narratives. Almost every page holds some fascinating fact about the role that beans have played in the cultures of the world--some familiar, many unfamiliar. And it's by no means a compendium of curiosities: there are some serious themes and subtle insights running through the book: one such is the way that beans have come to be an indicator of socio-economic classes. It's also right up-to-date on many issues of the day--geneticaly modified food, for instance. Yes, and don't worry--Albala writes with a light touch and doesn't shy away from the inevitable association of beans with flatulence. And as a bonus, you get lots of recipes. In fact, you get your money's worth just treating it as a cookbook, with recipes from many centuries and cultures. In my opinion, Beans--A History takes its place right up there with the best of the recent books that trace a single food through history.

Beans is the winner of the 2008 International Association of Culinary Professionals Jane Grigson Award and was also a finalist for the food writing award.

My apologies for posting a review of my own book, but I saw no other way of getting this information onto amazon. I hope you enjoy it. Ken

Albala's book follows that trend of biographies of food, and while this one is not as good as Mark Kurlansky's "Cod," it was fun wallowing in one of mankind's most basic foodstuffs. This book is loaded with amusing trivia (I especially like that certain African groups play "Russian Roulette" with a toxic bean), but its real value lies in its exploration of the link between beans and poverty. Perhaps no other food -- save the pickled herring or cornmeal mush - has been so linked to hard times or the poor. Albala shows how this link is flipped by those valorizing their roots: If beans are a link to a poorer, more authentic past, then they are also the champion of that group's ethnic pride.

My friends were making fund of me for buying a book titled "Beans, A History." But I find the book very interesting. It is very much a history book rather than a cook book. I hope the author writes his next book "Grains, A History."

This book was excellent. It provided detailed information about the history of the domestication of several members of the Fabaceae. I would suggest it to anyone interested in domestication or beans in general.

Overall, this is quite a readable and informative book. It provides a good overview of the diversity of beans and their food uses in different cultures. It is especially effective in tracing the history of the role of beans in diets of the rich and the poor (mostly the latter).

However, it is not a history in a broad sense. It says very little about the role and evolution of beans in farming systems, and their critical role in crop rotations and soil nitrogen fixation. Nor are the reasons for the decline in beans in many production systems and the extraodinary expansion of soybeans discussed. And it completely misrepresents the achievements of the green revolution, and is hung up on GMOs (especially given the evidence of serious problem of natural toxins in many conventional varieties discussed in the book!)

A glossary of bean common names and species would also have been very useful.

This is a wonderful book that is both scholarly and entertaining, a good read as well as a valuable reference work. It consists of a series of "biographies" of beans or groups of related beans by region, including the Middle East, Europe, India, Africa, Mexico, South America, North America, and China and Japan. Each "biography" includes a description of the bean's origin and history, philosophical and political dimensions, methods of preparation, and recipes (nearly sixty in all) with many anecdotes and literary references. I never really thought about it before, but in most parts of the world beans are associated with poverty and low social status with the exception of two civilizations: India and China. In order to truly understand beans, the author resolved to eat beans every day during the book's creation, ideally a new species or variety every day. He has assimilated his subject matter well!

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BEANS ABOUT
BEANS: A HISTORY
Also Beans' Biographies

By Ken Albala

Reviews by Marty Martindale

Review by Marty Martindale

"Beans, beans, the musical fruit.
The more you eat, the more you `toot.'"
(borrowed from an old children's song)

You may be surprised to learn the above reference to fruit is not poetic license. Beans, with their high-fiber, protein-packed nutrition are actually a fruit. All beans are legumes, and legumes include beans, peas and lentils. Their structure is generally a mushy interior surrounded by a firm skin faintly seamed around its middle. Beans are famed for the flatulence they provoke, however, we understand Beano is a good thing. Each chapter concentrates on related beans, "a series of bean biographies," states Albala.

Beans in human culture tend to be geographical markers, as well. Your reviewer once told her kids she could recall the geography of her life in beans: Near Boston "Beantown" where she grew up, every Saturday night, date night, the home meal included canned Friend's Baked Beans, prepared with pork and molasses. The family further lavished the beans with tart, family-centric dousings of assorted condiments. Once married she moved to Texas and New Mexico where it was pinto beans in both places, and never to be eaten without sharp, grated Cheddar. A decade later living on Mississippi's Gulf Coast, it was red beans and rice country, and celery was important in the cookpot. Still another decade later, it was Tampa Bay where Cuban black beans were the bean du jour. These were cooked with green bell pepper and served over rice with a garnishes of raw onion and white vinegar.

Albala also gives us practical advice: For instance, he confesses he feels it is no longer necessary to "sift through beans [before cooking] looking for debris or rocks." He likes the idea of skimming off the foam which rises. Preference as to over-night soaking or the quick "day of" method" is ours and not too important. Both seem okay. He's also from the school of "no seasoning, even salt, until the beans show signs of tenderness." He adds no sure way to judge how long it takes to cook an actual bean. It apparently doesn't exist. Like a good chowder, he feels beans taste better the following day. He does indeed, "Roll that beautiful bean footage," throughout the book, and it pleases.

The biographies begin with ancient lentils, though he offers no recipe for Essau's Mess of Pottage made with brown rice. To my surprise, I learned the tamarind is a bean, so is carob. Jicama and fenugreek are also fruits! These appear in his chapter, "Oddballs and Villains."

Albala takes us totally around the world with bean biography, and he includes 55 recipes. These run from the adzuki bean, its sweetness and versatility in Japanese Bean Paste to Cuban Black Bean Soup. He also spares us not from recipes for Bean Fudge and Pinto Bean Fruit Cake. Any good bean recipe collection contains Brazil's favorite Feijoada, so yummie served from the top of the Caesar Park overlooking Impenema on a lazy, sunny Saturday afternoon.

Humans are blessed for having the lowly bean, because it is often life-saving for the poor and hungry, and its protein-richness coupled with its low cost for mankind in any state of leanness. These caring benefactors also share their valuable nitrogen fixing properties which enriches our soil for growing other crops.

Before his scholarly 11-page bibliography, our bean biographer thoughtfully includes a full page of modern bean cookbooks. Ken Albala is Professor of History at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California. He is also author of many books on food including EATING RIGHT IN THE RENAISSANCE and THE BANQUET: DINING IN THE GREAT COURTS OF LATE RENAISSANCE EUROPE.

You can reach Marty at: mm@FoodSiteoftheDay.com.

We are a bean eating family, where beans are consumed 3-4 times per week in some form. We used to go to the Bean Festival down in Tracy, CA so we never get tired of eating or learning about beans.

Which makes this book one anyone who loves food archeology, or bean cuisines should at least read if not own. No it doesn't cover everything about beans, but it covers enough to make it worth a read.

After all how many Americans know that virtually every culture has some type of bean dish? Or that beans as a food source goes back thousands of years?