Pythagoras says “Just say NO to beans!”
“Beans, beans, good for your heart… or NOT.”
There’s truth to the rhyme – beans are indeed a musical fruit… if the music is a funeral march!
The Greek mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras, who you might remember from geometry class, had his very own cult. Followers lived communally, studied the cosmos, and ate vegetarian.
But unlike today’s vegetarians, they also strictly avoided eating beans. This wasn’t just a quirk. Like the Ancient Egyptians and Romans, the Greeks considered broad beans (also known as fava beans) a supernatural symbol of death. And due to a deadly allergy, the beans likely deserved their reputation.
Why was eating beans avoided in the ancient world? Even Hannibal Lecter enjoyed them with a fine chianti (and a census-taker’s liver).
For more about deadly beans and how they got such a bad reputation, read the entire article at Atlas Obscura!