Building a New Story of Beans

In Hungarian folk tales, the bean is always an auspicious sign. In one of our most famous tales, the bean becomes a tree so high that the hero, just a little boy at the start of his climb, has become an adult by the time he reaches the top. Thus, the bean in the Hungarian tradition often symbolises development, self-knowledge, maturity and connecting with our innermost secrets.

Sounds nice, but what on earth does this have to do with TRUE and our pulse project? Well, for one thing, TRUE also deals with the development and discovery of secrets in different pulses to turn them into something valuable.

The Hungarian organizations involved in this project are AgriKulti and ESSRG who have dug out some of the several hundred pulse types from the mysterious freezers of NöDiK (Center for Plant Diversity Institute) and test how they behave in different soils, circumstances, various farming methods and weather conditions. In cooperation with six farmers, we examine all the experimental pulses from their arrival at the farms until they are served on the plates of curious guests, as one of the most important factors is to know how these pulses actually taste. We then plan to give these bean varieties to top chefs so that they can create not only delicious but healthy foods rich in plant proteins.

Our bean project has already launched: the pulses are all in the soil, soaking up the sun, wind and rain. While they won’t become the trees from our rich folklore, through our work to advance our knowledge of these valuable plants, they can serve as a path to a more sustainable future.