7/23/2023 0 Comments Vox nutrition jobsSoy vey! The cows are eating all the edamame Soybeans are at the top of the protein leaderboard for legumes, getting you to 63 percent of your daily value of protein (31.3 grams) if you eat a cup. If you eat a cup of beans, that averages at around 15 grams of protein, or 30 percent of the recommended daily amount. “Rotating your crops in general helps with disease management and fertility management,” said Lund.Īnother plus to this pulse: A handful of beans packs a protein punch. With farmers getting more food with less land, beans can effectively be grown to feed people, with benefits to other crops too. The USDA’s crop production report notes that even though the area in the US planted with beans shrank by 10 percent from 2021 to 2022, yield increased by 23 percent, showing their productivity. When beans are grown in rotation with other crops such as wheat, or brassicas like cabbage or kale, they make such an impact on soil health that this can increase yields over time, Margie Lund, a vegetable specialist at the Cornell Cooperative Extension, told me. Because bean plants can add nitrogen back into soil, they can help improve soil health, and this nitrogen acts like a natural fertilizer. Legumes - which include beans, peas, and lentils - also happen to have sustainability perks. “It’s getting that understanding that yes, they are more affordable, but they’re also more valuable,” he added.Įfficiency is just one way beans edge out animals. The difference in efficiency is clear: Plants and in particular pulses (the dry seed of a legume), like beans and lentils, give you more protein while using less land.īeans can help us make the most of our resources, says Paul Newnham, executive director of the UN Sustainable Development Goal 2 Advocacy Hub on ending world hunger. For beans, the ratio is almost the inverse: Just 23 percent of land is used to grow plants for human consumption, from which the world gets 63 percent of its protein. Raising cattle, pigs, and chickens uses 77 percent of the world’s agricultural land, while only providing 37 percent of the global protein supply, according to Our World in Data. But the food system as it is now disproportionately favors the meat industry, which is difficult to regulate. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel to get them in grocery stores or on restaurant menus. The good thing about beans is that they’re a food that already exists with a long cultural history. “It makes more sense to turn to beans as a protein alternative for a million reasons.” The bountiful benefits of beans “There’s a big move now to find replacements for protein in alternative meats, in lab-grown meat, and these companies are all thinking, ‘No one is ever going to give up their hamburger or their chicken nugget,’ and I think it’s a profound mistake,” says Ken Albala, author of Beans: A History. Beans can make you gassy, there’s a cooking learning curve, and a socioeconomic stigma around them still lingers.īut if we’re serious about changing how we think about our agricultural resources, beans can be a champion for delicious, sustainable, and affordable protein. There’s just one problem: Beans and legumes suffer from a public relations problem in the US, where the average person eats only around 7.5 pounds of beans per year, compared to 12 pounds in the UK and as much as 130 pounds in countries like Rwanda and Burundi. They cost less than conventional or new plant-based meats, and they’re increasingly getting attention among foodies.Īs one global campaign to double bean consumption by 2028 frames it, the answer to the question of how we can get inexpensive protein without sacrificing animals or the planet is simple: “ Beans is how.” Beans are high in protein, efficient to grow, and can even improve soil health. However, there’s a simple way to provide plenty of protein that doesn’t require animals or plant-based startups: beans. But plant-based proteins have been hitting a wall: inflation, politicization of food, and supply-chain hurdles punctured the hype - at least for now. In the last decade, alternative meat options, like Impossible and Beyond, rose as a potential solution, a product that can substitute for animal meat without the ethical and planetary penalties. And as the global population continues to grow, per-capita meat production to meet that demand is growing even faster. What kind of protein we eat has huge implications for our health - and well beyond.īesides the health, ethical, or religious reasons why people choose to stop eating meat, the way animals are raised to be food has enormous impacts on land use, deforestation, and carbon emissions.
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