| | | | | Illustration by Emily Sabens/The Washington Post; iStock | | While start-ups scramble to engineer a sustainable protein, from lab-grown meat to fake burgers, lentils are a ready solution, one with a proven record over centuries. And they're scrumptious, too. Read this week's Climate Coach column for some tips on how to put them on your table. | |  | | Lentils conceal their superpowers with a dowdy exterior. For millennia, the legumes have been an exalted part of humanity's diet. They were buried with the pharaohs of ancient Egypt. The Roman legions lived on them, packing the essential portable protein on their long campaigns. Today, the lentil is again on the front lines. This time, against climate change. | | From India's red lentil to black "beluga" lentils, so named for their resemblance to caviar, the world grows about 6 million tons every year. When it comes to combating climate change, the lentil may be the perfect legume. Unlike corn and other grains, lentils can thrive on arid lands with little water — while building up the soil. They're also, as the caviar mention implies, delicious. So why do Americans eat fewer lentils than almost everyone else? | | Lentils are just waiting for their "hummus moment," says Tim McGreevy, CEO of the USA Dry Pea and Lentil Council, a trade group. It was hummus that ignited Americans' love of chickpeas. "Hummus was a paradigm shift. It was amazing," he says. "Hummus is the gateway pulse." Lentils could be next. This week, I looked at how you can return the lentil to its rightful place at humanity's table. Here's what I learned: | | What are lentils? Lentils are pulses, or the edible seed of a legume plant. This category of dry beans — as opposed to fresh green beans — encompasses everything from black beans to chickpeas to pigeon peas. Humans were collecting wild varieties more than 13,000 years ago. Lentils are a nutritional powerhouse. Pound for pound, the protein in raw lentils exceeds steak. While not as dense or digestible as meat, cooked lentils make a complete protein when combined with many grains. Lentils also contain iron, zinc, magnesium, potassium, and vitamin B, as well as most of the essential amino acids. | | There's no shortage of delicious lentil recipes, from juicy burgers to lemon-infused soups to barbecue and even brownies. "I'm an omnivore, but I love [lentils] so much I just eat less meat," says Steve Sando, founder of Rancho Gordo, a legume company. "Food should be joyful, not penance." American still don't eat lentils much. Indians consume about 40 pounds of pulses per person, annually. Spaniards come close to 20 pounds per person. Americans remain in the low teens. One study estimated just 8 percent of the U.S. population eats pulses on any given day. | |  | | Did you know I read all your emails? Especially the ones with stories and funny photos. Be part of the Climate Coach community. Send me your climate questions at climatecoach@washpost.com. | | Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here to get The Climate Coach in your inbox every Tuesday and Thursday. | | See you on Thursday, Michael Coren, Climate Coach | | | | | | | | | |
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