I Don't Know Beans

I just returned from a trip to North Carolina to attend my oldest son’s doctoral graduation (boy did that apple fall a long way from the tree!). While we were there some of his friends had a dinner for him. As I was making my way thru the serving line, right there amongst the barbeque and potato salad and other things was a big bowl of pinto beans and beside them was a relish dish full of hot chow chow. The lady who prepared the dinner said they couldn’t have a meal around there without pinto beans and boy did it take me home.

I don’t know about you guys, but pinto beans were a staple at our house. We didn’t have them every day, but they were by far the most common dish, with the possible exception of corn bread. In fact I was always puzzled as to why they didn’t serve them in the cafeteria at school. Maybe they did, I just didn’t eat the days they had them, or maybe they thought we got enough of them at home.

Anyway, when nutrition was covered in health class I remember thinking we must be malnourished. They said nourishment was a problem in third world countries whose diet consisted mainly of one thing, like rice or something, and I’d think of that bowl of beans and say to myself, “We have pinto beans almost every day, are we like that?”

I have since discovered that when combined with grains, like corn, the members of the bean family make a protein that is good for you. So it wasn’t as bad as it looked. Besides, there were other things on our table from time to time too. Things like GREEN beans and LIMA beans and BUTTER beans and NAVY beans and BLACK EYED peas. So why worry so much about a diet consisting of one thing? :)

My wife was born in Pennsylvania and she has learned to make an occasional pot of beans and a pan of corn bread, and she makes them quite well too. The corn bread of course is baked in an iron skillet. :)

If you ever go to Colorado on I70, keep your eyes open for a huge sign beside the road that pays homage of sorts to pinto beans. Apparently they grow a lot of pintos there and, among other things, the sign says something like “Every flake of snow in the winter is a pinto bean in the summer.”

Or how about this old fashioned Burma Shave road sign:

Beans, Beans
Food for the road
But don’t light a match
Your seat might explode
Burma Shave

By the way, in one of the previous posts I mentioned Loudon hot dogs. At the same dinner I was telling some people from California that in some parts of the south the proper way to eat barbeque was to put the slaw on the bun with the barbeque. My ex piped up with, “Don’t listen to him. He puts slaw on his chili dogs.” To which I had to replay, “Darn right I do.” :)