We know, legumes are not exotic at all, they do not sound modern but rather like grandmother’s food, outdated and boring. However, this ancestral food has endless benefits both at a nutritional and environmental level . It would be a strong candidate to become one of the foods of the future, beyond filling the plate with insects and other critters.
Have you ever stopped to think about what your food contaminates ? It is an issue that we do not usually pay much attention to, but producing the food that we will later put into our mouths has a high cost for the planet. “ The impact of producing food is more complex than we individually think . We simply see what it generates to bring food to the table or from the garden to the table. We see more anecdotes: watering, bringing food, transporting it, packaging it… but we don’t see the whole process ”, tells us Aitor Sánchez, dietician-nutritionist and author of Your diet can save the planet , recently published by Paidós. “The process begins even before the planting itself, from the change in land use. In other words, the impact that a corn crop can have can be even before growing the corn itself, when you have deforested a forest to plant it. The change in land use is one of the great contributions along with the destruction of forest mass (losing forest to leave it to agriculture). Then there is a part that is from the production of food itself, that is, producing it, watering it, feeding the animals and the part that is already more perceptible by the consumer: transport, packaging, preserving it, preparing it at home ”.
It is expected that in 2050 there will be 9 billion people who will inhabit the Earth. However, the planet’s resources are finite. Given how unsustainable it is to depend exclusively on livestock to feed us, we must remember that livestock need space and their food as well (according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 70% of all the world’s agricultural surface is used for food for livestock ), in addition to its already known contribution to climate change, mainly through the emission of methane, insects are considered as alternative, sustainable and high nutritional quality foods . Not surprisingly, the European Union has recently approved the marketing of the mealworm ( Tenebrio molitor ).
But will we really have to feed on worms in the future? If you are one of those who just thinking about it makes your guts turn, calm down. “The legume would be the most sustainable protein source. When it comes to what will be the protein of the future, synthetic meat, insects … It is not necessary to make a cricket farm, we already have the legume . If you want to look for a sustainable, safer protein, with fewer cultural barriers, legumes already exist ”, Sánchez tells us. “ The legume beats the insects in absolutely everything, except in exoticism . The future of food is not going to be insects. It will have its niche in the market, cricket flour to make bars and all that. It doesn’t really have that practicality to give you a great global food tour. To make cricket flour and put it in a bar for that you put soy flour or chickpea flour. Not even looking for economic justification the insects are going to have more travel ”.
The dietician-nutritionist focuses precisely on the choice of protein as a way to reduce or not our contribution to climate change. Asked about what changes we should make in our diet to reduce our contribution to climate change, he answers: “In order of priority, without any doubt, the first thing would be to change the origin of the protein in our diet . Between vegetables, between cereals, between tubers there is not a big difference. The real difference can be made by substituting products of animal origin, especially protein: meat, fish, eggs and dairy, for protein of plant origin, for legumes. This would be the biggest change at the level of sustainability and with a dietary equivalence. We are not saying remove meat, eat vegetables, which are even more sustainable. We are making a logical dietary substitution so that it is not an unbalanced diet ”.
And what about soybean cultivation ? Are you responsible for the deforestation of the Amazon? That it is not a question of solving the problem on the one hand and creating it on the other. “Most of the world’s soy that is planted and grown is for animal feed,” Aitor Sánchez tells us. “Derivatives of soy for human consumption such as tofu, tempeh, natto, textured soy, edamame, soy sauce … All this represents only 6% of all soy in the world. The vast majority is used to feed livestock ”. Therefore, it is not the soy that we humans take that is responsible for the environmental disaster.
The sustainability of legumes
The cultivation of legumes is very sustainable: it does not require a lot of water and has a low carbon footprint . In addition, legumes are capable of fixing nitrogen from the atmosphere in the soil , which favors the productivity of crops. If a significant amount of nitrogen is fixed per year, it will benefit crop rotation, especially cereals. In addition, nitrogen fixation means that less amount of nitrogen fertilizer is needed, thus reducing the economic cost and the environmental impact of the excessive use of fertilizer, which means a reduction in the emission of greenhouse gases, as well. as well as the risk of soil and water contamination.
As if that were not enough, it has been seen that plants that fix nitrogen in a symbiotic way (in this case with the help of bacteria called rhizobia), sequester a greater amount of CO2 , perfect as a weapon to fight against climate change.
Legumes also improve soil quality , according to FAO: “they reduce the risk of soil erosion by improving the structure (stability of the soil aggregate, soil aeration and soil water retention capacity)” and “help to stop pests and diseases when used as green manure or as components in intercropping, the practice of growing two or more crops in the same field at the same time ”.
Finally, we want to highlight its price, very cheap and accessible to everyone. At this point we can only ask ourselves: what more could you ask for? Oh yeah, a bowl of lentils, please!
