Beans: a World of Good Eating

“Beans and Corn bread”, you understand,”Frijoles Fritos”, mean fried beans in Mexico, “Arroz y Habechuelas”, mean rice and beans in Puerto Rico. O. k., then you say , but it means much more than just food. It means knowing people, and cultures, and customs. It means embracing difference among us. It’s funny to me , the dried beans start out all the same, but with imagination, love, and culinary customs of your home, or place of birth, you can have a little bit of home on your plate. It has to do with using what was available to our ancestors. What local products they had .Using what there was. To take the simplest of fare, and elevate it to culinary genius.

In Puerto Rico, beans are many times cooked with pork or ham, tomatoes, onions, cilantro, culantro, peppers . Sometimes guineos verdes(green bananas), or platanos, are enjoyed along side. The rice is a class act all by itself. Oil added to the washed rice, its cooked in salted water, and a crust(pegado) is allowed to form on the bottom of the comal (pan) . Every one fights over “pegado”. Or maybe we make yellow rice, beautifully seasoned with adobo, spices and achiote. Nothing smells better than arroz y habechuelas, when you come in hungry, I won’t even begin to discuss pasteles, or accapurrias. Oh, and what about guineo and bacalao(salted cod) ?

And what about our southrn specialty, beans and cornbread? Mmm. I like to cook mine with ham hocks, or better still a meaty ham bone. When the beans are almost done I smash some of them to thicken the broth, add salt and pepper. hot sauce on the side , along with chopped green onions. the corn bread can be as plain, or fancy as you like. I like to add a can of creamed corn to the bread bater, and cracklins, if I have them, make a real tasty bread. You’ve got to cook it in a cast iron skillet, with an iron handle so it don’t burn. Some turnip greens, and fried chicken , sound pretty good right now.

Now , lets turn to “Frijoles Fritos”, that, delicious creamy, well seasoned treat. A tortilla would be so lonely without its soul mate. Here is a seemingly simple dish that really takes skill to prepare .The beans , cooked to perfection, mostly plain without meat, but can have pork or ham added. Care must be taken when frying beans. The pot must be sturdy, heated very hot, and then removed from the flame to prevent flare ups. Beans added all at once with a loud sizzle, come immediatly to a boil. You start mashing in the pan. So many topings, when eaten with tortillas, maybe eaten with mexican style rice, rice, fried while raw and cooked in a spicy broth with peppers, onions, garkic and tomatoes. Yum. All kinds of topping go on cheese, onions, lettuce. the variety is only limited by your imagination.

The beans are all the same, yet, three different cooks, from three different places in the world, The same food, beans, yet each different, each dish is delicious. O. k. so, now that I’ve made myself hungry, I admit there is a point to all this. The point is we are all the same. We use what we have. We do the best we can with what we have. We all want the same things. We want to feed ourselves and our families. We want a decent place to live, education for our children, and some sense of happiness for ourselves. Try to understand others. The patience and love you show will surely came back to you.

Be a good steward of the world, and it wont let you down. I believe, that by trying to understand your neighbor, and accepting them, as different people with differences, yes, but also with those similarities that make us all the same too. Understanding, and acceptance of others also has a huge byproduct. it makes us better, well informed, tolerent people. Its not that one style of being, is better than another. A great example is the very clothes we wear.If I lived in the very hot sahara desert, I would want to cover up my body to defend it from the ravages of the sun. Also if you lived near the north pole, you wouldn’t go around in short sleeves and shorts.

And your coat would be made of the warmest materials you had available to you. We eat a certain way for a reason, we dress a certain way for a reason. but customs, and traditions aside, we are all alike. We are all beautiful in our own way, we are all, worthy, and valuable people. We all have merit. So have your beans, however you will. Be happy with yourself. Be proud. and, someone hand me the hotsauce.