Taking The Pea: Legumes and diet

In "Rivers of Gold", Hugh Thomas's epic study of the rise of the Spanish Empire, the author paints a picture of court life at Santa Fe prior to the siege of Granada in 1491. He describes the advisers to the monarchs and asks his readers to "imagine all these men dining together daily ... over biscuits, stews, fortified wine and chickpeas".

The humble chickpea. It has been a staple of the Spanish diet for centuries. Along with other legumes, it remains so. The Mediterranean diet, listed by Unesco last year as an aspect of "intangible cultural heritage of humanity", includes legumes as one of its principal characteristics.

Legumes, lentils in particular, used to be something of a joke food in the UK. They were associated with the wacky-baccy, vegetarian brigade; the lentil's comedic value was no better expressed than by hippy Neil in "The Young Ones". I myself had, on more than one occasion, to nod in earnest approval as a supper of nut roast and lentil bake was served to a group of us sitting cross-legged on a living-room floor while the Incredible String Band plinkety-plonked from the record-player. "Yea, really nice" would be intoned as thoughts turned to pie and chips. It took the importing of culinary culture, and the likes therefore of tarka dal and humous, to make the lentil and the chickpea be seen as not just representative of alternative lifestyles.

In Mallorca and Spain, the lentil and other legumes never suffered such a reputation for alternativism. Yet for all that the legume has been in the mainstream for so long, there is conflicting evidence as to its enduring appeal.

The Spanish market for legumes is said to be the largest anywhere in Europe. So great would the demand appear to be that domestic production can't cope; they are imported from Canada, Turkey, Argentina, the US and Australia. However, and despite the legume's place in the Mediterranean diet, it fell out of fashion to such an extent that it was being said that it had become the "forgotten" element of the diet.

Recently, fears had been expressed as to the decline in the consumption of legumes and to a consequently less healthy diet. In truth though, the decline had been occurring since the late 60s. The years of economic bonanza had changed eating habits, and the peasant style of the legume didn't fit with a more aspirational and eventually fast-food society. Menus of the day, and their traditional provision of square and balanced meals, were singled out for failing to include legumes.

This, though, was before the crisis took hold. Legume consumption suddenly shot up. In 2009 it was reported that an increase in the sale of legumes was the highest for 50 years; it was up by 10%. Though consumption per person - 4.2 kilograms a year - was not back to the levels of the sixties, it was not difficult to understand why there was a revival in the legume's popularity. Go into any supermarket and you'll find jars of lentils, chickpeas and beans - all at dirt-cheap prices. But the renewed popularity hasn't been distributed evenly across Spain; Mallorca and the Balearics have one of the lowest levels of consumption.

Despite this, legumes remain an important crop for Mallorca's farmers. Apart from legumes being the source of high protein, legume plants are highly valued by farmers for their capacity to replenish soil thanks to their production of nitrogen and the reduction in the cost of fertiliser. They play a significant role in the management of agricultural land. And for this reason, the fact that this winter's weather has been generally benign is good news. Moderate rainfalls and only a couple of light frosts have not disrupted more or less perfect conditions for sowing.

Current optimism for the legume harvest may yet turn along with the weather; and it has been ominously benign. Concerns as to what the weather might yet bring have been expressed in press reports about not only legume production, but also the potato crops. This reporting is one of the, if you like, quainter features of Mallorca. It comes in the wake of the strange story about artichokes being stolen from fincas in Sa Pobla and Muro, and reflects a world that is far removed from the tourist image of the island and indeed from the image that many who live in Mallorca have of the island. But it also reflects the enduring importance of agriculture.

How long the legume will endure is another matter. Its crisis-driven re-emergence has not been as strong in Mallorca as it has been in other parts of Spain, and in Mallorca the shift towards different types of food has been more marked than in much of the country. Mallorca shares with Madrid, Catalonia and other more cosmopolitan areas a greater liking for fast food, one that doesn't sit easily with the legume.




Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.