World Pulses Day is celebrated around the world on 10 February. The initiative promoted by FAO aims to increase consumer awareness of the nutritional values of legumes and support their role in sustainable agri-food systems. The focus of 2022 is the role that these precious foods can play, especially for the new generations, in building an agriculture that respects the earth and water resources and healthy and balanced diets.
Source of quality protein and rich in fiber and antioxidants, legumes are an essential element of a healthy and balanced diet because help prevent cardiovascular disease e diabetes. In addition to being excellent allies for health, they are also an essential tool for tackle climate change because, requiring little land and little water, they can also be cultivated in areas characterized by severe drought.
Slow Food Italy and his youth network for the occasion have put in place a call to action to the chefs of the Slow Food Alliance
The appeal of the organization and Slow Food Youth Network Italy (SFYN) have joined over 140 cooksi of the Alliance from every region that the February 10 (and not only) will insert in their at least one legume-based dish on the menu, valuing the less known ones of their territory, using Slow Food Presidia or reproposing ancient recipes. Among the products chosen by the chefs we find, for example, i Cicero's chickpeas that Anna Clara Capacchione of the Vasilico restaurant in Salerno interprets in velvety soup served with sautéed chicory, but also beans from the Purgatory of Gradoli which Tiziana Favi and Hassan Ismail Gaafar of Namo Ristobottega in Tarquinia accompany with bread dumplings with field beets and white turnips, while the lentils from Santo Stefano di Sessanio, an ancient variety, are the protagonists of Maria Grazia Omodei's soup at the Osteria della Villetta in Palazzolo sull'Oglio. And still the wanted one roveja from Civita di Cascia, the Arsoli bean, the black chickpeas from the Karst Murgia, the grass peas from Serra de' Conti demonstrating the great variety that our peninsula offers and the fundamental educational and cultural role that curious and knowledgeable chefs can play in support of their community.
The #AggiungiUnLegumeATavola call to action is part of a broader awareness campaign that kicks off on February 10 on the Instagram and Facebook channels of the Slow Food Youth Network Italy: for five days, through posts and stories, all the themes that revolve around the world of legumes, emphasizing the value of Italian legume biodiversity, but also the beneficial contribution of legumes both for the health of each of us and for the environment. A different aspect of legumes will therefore be addressed every day to dispel the myths and highlight as much as possible the peculiarities and curiosities of these products.
This initiative is the latest in a long series: in fact, several projects have been carried out over the years to give the right importance to legumes. Among these Slow Beans, the Italian network of producers, cooks and activists, born with the aim of defending, maintaining, spreading the cultivated leguminous biodiversity, and the Let it Bean! which works to involve all those municipalities that believe in legumes as the main product to protect biodiversity and with it enhance the territory and the communities.
