The Fava Bean

"For a seed to achieve its greatest expression, it must come completely undone. The shell cracks, its insides come out and everything changes. To someone who doesn't understand growth, it would look like complete destruction." — Cynthia Occelli

Photo by Liz Birnbaum, The Curated Feast for Ten Speed Press

A little story: last night I made some yellow curry fava beans from a decade-old recipe video I found on YouTube. It was a delicious way to use up some of my dry bean stores. It reminded me of a little nugget from the fava bean — AKA broad or faba — bean’s history:

In ancient times, the Fava bean carried the taboo of death and bad luck. In Ancient Rome it was used in funeral rites, and all the priests in the Orphic and Eleusinian mysteries were forbidden from ever touching, mentioning, or looking at Fava beans. Pythagoras also forbade his followers from it due to his belief that fava beans contained the souls of the dead.

Today, these spring-arising spirited beans are a cover crop whose purpose is to break up hard ground and fix beneficial nitrogen into the soil. They pave the way for the success of plants that come in after them. So if this post was a parable, the lesson is: know your history and do good for those who come after you.

xo, Liz