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Beans Fit for a King

Appears in
On the Hummus Route
On the Hummus Route

By Ariel Rosenthal, Orly Peli-Bronshtein and Dan Alexander

Published 2019

  • About
Chickpeas nourish royals and commoners

Royal estates in Medieval Europe boasted lavish gardens, planted by the order of Charlemagne’s Capitulare de Villis. This series of ordinances listed specific plants required in each manor, with chickpeas noted as an important plant in both kitchen and herb gardens, for culinary and medicinal purposes.

Centuries later, the Italian philosopher Umberto Eco singled out chickpeas as one of the most important crops of the last millennium. In his essay entitled “How Beans Saved Civilization,” Eco explains that cultivating all kinds of legumes, including chickpeas, lentils, and favas, radically changed the face of Europe. Not only did these provide a nourishing diet in times of historic hardship, they were also a source for community empowerment, with people meeting at communal ovens to bake their chickpea-filled casseroles.

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