Fava Bean

Also Broad Bean, English Bean, Windsor Bean, Horse Bean

How can it be that fava beans, whose culture is so ancient that it has no known wild form, whose use is so widespread that it is considered common fare from China to England, Iran to Spain, Africa to South America, have not become part of American cuisine? In China fava beans have been included in the diet for close to 5,000 years. Romans consider favas their special province, as they have since ancient times (faba, which means bean, is named after the Fabii, a noble Roman family). In the south of France fava season is celebrated. Old English cookbooks refer to the broad bean (its usual name in most English-speaking countries) as “the common bean.” On the Iberian peninsula broad beans appear dried, fresh, and fried and salted—as they do in China, where they are also sprouted. In a good part of the Middle East fava beans are the meal or meals of the day.