A History of the World in Twelve Beans - Joel Broekaert

Featured on NPR's All Things Considered“A fascinating exploration of the central role legumes have played in shaping civilizations and cultures throughout history.”—Julia Newberry, general manager of Rancho Gordo and co-author of the New York Times bestselling The Bean BookFrom ancient empires to modern kitchens, discover how twelve humble beans have quietly changed the world in vast and unimaginable ways. In A History of the World in Twelve Beans, food writer and history buff Joël Broekaert reveals how beans have profoundly shaped human history, culture, and society, through millennia and across continents. Beans have been long dismissed as the “common person’s food”—a cheap and nutritious form of protein that replaces expensive meat—and are often the butt of jokes about flatulence (enough to make some Greek philosophers forbid their followers from eating them). But beans, as Broekaert shows, are surprisingly mighty. Fava beans helped pull medieval Europe out of the Dark Ages and fuel a population boom. While soy powered the Chinese empire, thanks to the culinary innovations that turned a nearly indigestible bean into delicious miso, soy sauce, and tofu. The story of beans is also a story of colonialism, exploitation, and survival. The common bean, originating in the Americas and central to the diet of many Indigenous Peoples, crossed the Atlantic as part of the “Columbian exchange” of new foods—along with devastating diseases that decimated In
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