Fava Bean

This venerable mainstay of the Old World has been cultivated for so long that its wild ancestors and place of origin are no longer traceable. While favas are common fare from China to England (as broad beans), Iran to Spain, and Africa to South America, it is their association with Provence and parts of Italy that probably accounts for their current renaissance in the United States. Although the beans were introduced to North America at the start of the 1600s, they fell out of favor toward the mid-1800s. Thanks to the present-day passion for Mediterranean cuisines, upper echelon restaurants now offer what is one of the kitchen’s most labor-intensive fancy legumes in fashion—for it can no longer be considered a staple.