Positive Writing and Garbanzo Beans

Something good happened to me today as I was job hunting. Well, more than one thing, to tell the truth. One of those things, however, was an announcement I found from Tonic.com for unpaid interns to write for the summer.

A person could shirk at the prospect of writing (working?) for free. Yet this activity, for a venue that focuses on what’s good in the world instead of what’s wrong: that’s worth more than money in important ways.

Okay, so it won’t put food on the table. But where the focus and concentration go, so goes the perceived quality of one’s life. So if you’ve at least got food on the table, the perspective upon it can really help.

Thusly, I consider the humble garbanzo bean dish I learned about from NPR that feeds a family of 4 for less than $10. Within an invigorated and enriched perspective the dish stands as the result of a culinary adventure rather than as the strained effect of stretching every dollar as far as possible. See? It’s all about perspective. So thank you, Tonic, for offering this opportunity to writers everywhere to change their garbanzo bean situations from disappointing to delicious, and I hope you enjoy the submissions I send your way this summer!

And while on the topic of submissions and garbanzo beans and good things, let us turn to another good thing concerning that garbanzo bean dish I made, and garbanzo beans (aka chickpeas) in particular.

The dish was good, even though it had garbanzo beans in it. This writer has done a 12-month stint as a vegetarian, and still doesn’t indulge her carnivorous side too often. So I have run through a gamut of vegetarian recipes and have been surprised by how often they’ve called for garbanzo beans.

I’ve had them in salads, in soups, as side dishes. Served them up obediently because since they appeared so often, I figured those tan little nuggets must do something right. But the only thing I could say every time was “bleah!” Transformed into hummus or falafel is fine, but left in their knobby wholeness is another matter entirely and the descriptions I read of them as “nutty” or “buttery” left me puzzled.

Since it didn’t seem clear that the occurrence of garbanzo beans was so frequent because of their taste, I figured they must provide something else beneficial - but until now never bothered to look. And here I was, on the threshold of making another recipe with chickpeas in it. Perhaps if I had a better idea of their qualities outside their disputable taste, I could overcome my aversion. Better that and the meal make it into the tummy than into the trash.

On the “Nutrition Data” website there is a great assortment of chart, graphs, and lists giving all kinds of information on food, and here one will quickly become impressed by how much good stuff comes from just one cup of the cooked (boiled) bean. Highlights of the nutrition facts are given here: 50% of the daily value (DV) of fiber; 29% DV of protein; and, concerning that protein the chickpea comes with what’s called a “high amino acid score,” meaning its proteins are well-balanced. That cup of chickpeas also comes with 13% of one’s daily dose of thiamin (B1), 11% of one’s DV of B6, and 71% DV of folate (B9). On the minerals, that same cup provides 26% of one’s daily value of iron, 20% of one’s magnesium, 28% of phosphorous, 29% of copper, and 84% of the manganese that’s needed in a day.

That’s a start for the numbers. On the website “The World’s Healthiest Foods” there is a more verbal account of the goods of garbanzo beans. Studies indicate that besides being low in fat, chickpeas help lower LDL (“bad” cholesterol) and increase HDL (“good” cholesterol). The high quantity of fiber means that chickpeas are good for stabilizing blood sugar levels after eating.

And so now the picture is making more sense. If one is a vegetarian, then it is natural that he or she would be keen to find foods that supplement the diet in the places where meat used to serve, particularly with iron and protein. In these respects, garbanzo beans work quite well.

That’s for supplementing meat, for whatever reason a person might be eliminating meat from the diet, such as on ethical grounds, or maybe a person simply doesn’t like the way meat tastes. But some folks do shift to the vegetarian section of the cookbook aisle because there are health concerns, such as with high cholesterol, or blood sugar. And news about the garbanzo bean looks helpful here, too.

So hurray for the chickpea! I was ready to eat that dish of nutritious goodness, no matter what it tasted like. It sure did smell good cooking. And in the end, I’m thankful for this recipe for a Moorish-style chickpea and spinach stew because changed my mind about the bean, and tonight I look forward to having the leftovers with more rice. If you’d like to see this recipe, go to www.npr.org and search under “food” or “$10 meals.” The recipe is part of a series NPR started this week, challenging its listeners to offer up tasty recipes for meals that will serve a family of 4, for $10 or less.