Have you got your finger on the pulses? If not, a new campaign to promote these versatile, nutritious, and environmentally friendly legume seeds will be just the ticket.
Anything is Pulse-able, organised by the Eating Better alliance, of which Meat Free Monday is a part, launches on January 6th and over four weeks aims to inspire us to add more pulses to our cooking. The campaign will also give the lowdown on lentils, explain the benefits of beans and get us to check out chickpeas.
There will be pulse-specific recipes, as well as advice on slotting these versatile superfoods into our favourite dishes, highlighting the fact they are cheap and easy to use – making them the perfect ingredient for cost-of-living cooks (which is pretty much all of us at the moment).
Everyone will have their own idea of the best thing about pulses, but for us it’s all about the protein. Lupins, vetches, runner beans and peas are packed full of it (as well as fibre, zinc, iron, magnesium…), making these little guys the living embodiment of the MFM message that humans don’t need animal protein to survive and thrive. In fact, both we and the planet would do far better without it!
While rainforest is being cleared, water wasted and earth drained of nutrients to create land to graze cattle or grow food crops for them, protein-rich pulses can thrive on a fraction of the territory used to raise livestock. It’s no wonder they have their own special day, organised by the UN. This year’s World Pulses Day will take place on February 10th.
We will be posting some of our own recipes to support the Anything is Pulse-able campaign, all of them pulsing with deliciousness, as well as presenting a few more fascinating facts about this fantastic foodstuff. Fill your boots!