Since runner beans were mentioned somewhere, I figured it's time for a post on beans. They're not exactly low-carb, but they're low-ish, and they're a good source of protein and fat for vegetarian LCHFers. They're also incredibly versatile and have a surprising range of different flavours.
As proof that you can find absolutely anything on the Internet, I present (ta-da) The Bean Institute:
Which tells you everything you could ever wish to know about the many exciting variety of beans that humanity has created.
You can even take a quiz and find out what kind of bean you are. I am apparently a small red bean.
There are only about half-a-dozen species of edible beans, and those have been differentiated into hundreds of varieties by careful breeding. Check this out:
Much of the food I eat as a child was very much what my parents grow. Beans were a large part of our diet. Fresh green and dried. I think I must have at least 10 different varieties of bean, lentils, and chickpeas in my kitchen cupboards. Most all of the dishes I cook with them are the same as my mother and grandmother cooked..none had meat in them, most have different varieties of vegetables in them. Most have no oils and the ones that did would only be with olive oil.
Most of the meat we eat would be chicken... Lamb pork goat or beef would be a treat when someone in our extended family killed an animal for a special occasion.
Are you from the US? American culinary tradition seems to make much better use of beans than in the UK, and they have a much wider variety of them commonly available. It'd be unusual to find a Brit who had even heard of 10 different varieties of beans, never mind using them regularly.
As I've mentioned before, the LCHF movement has a lot in common with the back-to-the-land and natural-foods movements. It's all about unprocessed ingredients, cooking it yourself, and reviving those good old-fashioned recipes that worked ... which I suspect is precisely why the modern dietary Establishment despises it.
I am a long thin green bean, kidney beans. Grow my own every year and always freeze some. Great raw with salad or pan fried with butter. Also like butter beans but I don’t have the space to grow them.
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