Can beans save the world?

In other parts of the world, beans are treasured, just as they were historically in the UK – but now, they seem to have fallen out of favour with many of us (baked beans and hummus aside). In a recent survey commissioned by the Food Foundation, 66 per cent of people reported eating less than one portion of beans or pulses a week. For the sake of our health and the planet, we should be eating about seven times that amount. (For the purposes of this article, we’ll refer to most peas and pulses as beans.)

Why eat beans, peas and lentils? Quite simply, they're good for you and the planet. They're also delicious, add texture to dishes, come in many varieties and are full of fibre. Beans can be boiled, fried, roasted, mashed, milled in flour, fermented and puréed; they can be used in savoury and sweet dishes, and even incorporated into drinks.

Bang in some beans!

The Food Foundation and Veg Power launched a three-year campaign in November 2025 asking you to ‘bang in some beans’, with the aim to – with the help of retailers, food service, schools, cooks and writers – double bean consumption by 2028. The idea is to add beans to what we already eat, rather start a whole new diet.

Upping your intake doesn’t mean you have to eat beans to the exclusion of everything else. Recently, one of our cookery team, Helena, made three dishes for lunch in the test kitchen, each made using a different legume. She made a bolognese with half of the meat swapped for lentils, tikka masala curry using chickpeas and butter bean carbonara with no pasta in sight – all shining examples of how we perhaps should be thinking about using pulses and beans, as the filling, fibrous part of the dish, not just as a meat substitute or side.

We’re not just talking about main meals: don’t forget that a portion of hummus is bean-based, as is a snack of crispy chickpeas or a lunchtime sandwich filled with coronation chickpeas.

How should we think of beans?

...as a meat alternative? In addition to meat? As a carb replacement? As the fudgy base of desserts and cakes? The answer is, of course, all of the above. Beans differ dramatically in flavour and texture – butter beans become silky in soups, cannellini are creamy and mild, carlin peas are nutty and robust, urad beans turn velvety in black dhal and black beans give savoury depth to stews. Let flavour, as well as nutrition, guide your choices.

Beans in cuisines

Across the UK, diaspora communities have long placed beans at the centre of everyday cooking. South Asian households use dals (masoor, toor, chana, urad, moong) for everyday meals; Caribbean kitchens eat red kidney beans and gungo peas in rice and peas and stews; Middle Eastern and North African families cook ful medames, chickpea stews and broad bean dishes; and Latin American cooks incorporate black beans, pinto beans and mayocoba beans in soups, tacos, feijoada and more.

Where to buy beans in the UK

Supermarkets

Like many ingredients, the legumes you find in supermarkets are somewhat unadventurous. You can get good-quality white beans, kidney beans, chickpeas and black beans, as well as red, green and French green lentils – and that’s a good start, but it’s entry-level stuff.

Most larger supermarkets will have a range of dried, canned or jarred beans, as well as some in cartons. Depending on the demographic of local shoppers, the range may include those used in African, Caribbean and Asian cuisines.

Holland & Barrett stock dried and canned pulses, including British-grown varieties, and independent food shops often stock smaller brands plus French varieties of lentil. For a richer selection, go to diaspora shops where there's a higher turnover, so dried beans are fresher and cook predictably.

South Asian grocers offer shelves of dals in every colour, plus moth beans, brown chana and whole urad; Caribbean shops sell red kidney beans, gungo peas and sometimes West African honey beans; Middle Eastern stores stock excellent chickpeas, giant butter beans and jars of ful medames; and Latin American shops sell black, pinto and Peruvian heirloom varieties. These shops are usually excellent value, especially for bulk-buying.

Online suppliers

If you’re not yet convinced about eating them several times a week, then a more esoteric bean may just convert you, so look online. Different types of legumes taste and behave differently when cooked, resulting in a range of textures.

• Hodmedods sells British-grown legumes, such as carlin peas and fava beans, and also offers varieties from the Americas via the Heirloom Bean Co, which sources them from American bean legends Rancho Gordo. From vibrant purple ayocote morado and pinky black scarlett runners to orange buckeyes and white and dark orange yellow-eyes (ideal for a homemade baked bean recipe), you can bring plenty of colour to dishes
• Ocado stocks many independent brands, such as Bold Beans and Brindisa, as well as Perello, Belazu, Real Foods, KTC, Mr Organic and Reflets de France
• Bold Bean Co has probably done more than any other platform to elevate beans in the last couple of years. Glass jars, snappy packaging and really good-quality beans and chickpeas sets it apart from the crowd. Then, there’s the bean liquid – now rebranded as bean stock. Gone are the days of recommending that beans are rinsed before use; instead, tip the jar in, liquid and all, and your dish will be the better for it. The company often does collaborations with brands, packaging black chickpeas for Ottolenghi and carlin peas for Hodmedods. Deals are available if you order these as a subscription service
• Brindisa is the home of Spanish products, including a wide range of jarred, canned and dried beans. It sells some beans and lentils in 325g jars, which are very useful for meals for one

How to store beans (and why it matters)

Store dried beans in airtight jars or containers to keep humidity at bay. Keep the sell-by dates with them if you take them out of their packaging. They should be kept in a cool, dark, dry place and, ideally, away from your hob. This matters, as beans get tougher with age. Dried beans technically keep for years, but how easily they cook changes as they age. Freshly dried beans (less than a year old) cook evenly and relatively quickly. Older beans may take far longer to soften – even with soaking – and some very old ones simply never become tender. Very old beans are likely to have shrivelled or wrinkled skins, and may have a 'dusty' appearance from oxidisation – they will likely be as hard as stones.

Canned beans, when decanted into a container, keep chilled for use within three or four days. For jarred beans, keep the beans submerged in their cooking liquid, reseal, chill and use within four to five days.

More on cooking with beans

90 bean recipes
Health benefits of chickpeas

source https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/news-trends/can-beans-save-the-world