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Rice and beans (called arroz y habas, arroz con habichuelas, arroz con frijoles or similar in Spanish, arroz e feijão or feijão com arroz, in Brazilian Portuguese, and diri ak pwa in Haitian Creole, etc.) is a very popular dish throughout Latin America and the Caribbean as well as in communities of Latino and Caribbean people elsewhere.
Given the basic nature of its ingredients, rice and bean dishes exists in many regions of the world. This article, however, is primarily concerned with the Americas.
Description
The African slaves brought rice and beans to the Americas. In the United Stated In 1694, rice arrived in South Carolina, probably originating from Madagascar. The Spanish brought rice to South America at the beginning of the 17th century.
Colonial South Carolina and Georgia grew and amassed great wealth from the slave labor obtained from the Senegambia area of West Africa and from coastal Sierra Leone. At the port of Charleston, through which 40% of all American slave imports passed, slaves from this region of Africa brought the highest prices: in recognition of their prior knowledge of rice culture, which was put to use on the many rice plantations around Georgetown, Charleston, and Savannah. This was also the case in Latin America and the Caribbean
The dish usually consists of white rice accompanied by brown, red or black, dry beans (typically Phaseolus vulgaris or Vigna unguiculata) and seasoned in various ways. Different regions have different preferences. In Brazil, for example, black beans are more popular in Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, while in most other parts of the country these are mostly only used in feijoadas. The New Orleans specialty known as "red beans and rice" is often accompanied by a side of smoked sausage or a fried pork chop.
In many areas, rice and beans are often be served side by side rather than mixed together. Either way, they may be considered a meal or as a side dish to accompany a main dish of meat or chicken. Meat or other ingredients are sometimes placed atop rice and beans or (less often) mixed into it.
Importance
While simple, the dish is very nutritious. Rice is rich in starch, an excellent source of energy. Rice also has iron, vitamin B and protein. Beans are also protein-rich, and contain a good amount of iron and other necessary minerals, and both offer an important and basic kind of protein. One authority writes:
Rice and beans are an inseparable pair of staple foods for millions of Latin Americans, parts of Central America, the Caribbean, and the Andean Mountain zone. Whether consumed separately or together, these crops figure importantly in the human diet and in national economies across the entire region, and trends in their production are a matter of immediate relevance to practically all of its inhabitants.
Culture
The dish has been part of culture in the Caribbean and Latin America for over 400 years. Early Portuguese settlers carried rice to Brazil, and the Spanish introduced its cultivation to several locations in the Caribbean, and Central and South America and the State of Louisiana in the U.S.. The later introduction of beans into local agriculture resulted in the pairing of both as a common, cheap and affordable dish.
In discussing Puerto Rican cuisine, a food critic wrote:
Rice and beans are sacred .... They are our "daily bread," our comfort food. When you mess with someone's rice & beans, you mess with their mind. Rice & beans are soul food I ordered Arroz con habichuelas and when they arrived, I poured the entire bowl of beans over the plate of rice and mixed them thoroughly to absorb the gravy. I mention mixing because rice & beans are eaten together in the same bite and not, as I saw the uninitiated do, eaten separately in isolated mouthfuls. It's a synergistic dish and makes a deliciously healthy block of complete protein when combined together.
Today, the term "rice and beans" is used as a metonym for basic needs of food and phrases such as "the poor can't afford their rice and beans" are frequent. It is also used more generally for anything that is basic, fundamental, or simple in phrases like "just do the rice and beans and you'll succeed". The term is also used to describe any pairing that works together well, such as "they're like rice and beans".
See also
- Cuisine of Puerto Rico
- Cuban Cuisine
- Haitian Cuisine
- List of Brazilian dishes
- Louisiana Creole cuisine
- Gallo pinto, a Nicaraguan/Costa Rican version of rice and beans
- Platillo Moros y Cristianos, a Cuban version of rice and beans
Citations
- Puerto Rican White Rice and Kidney Beans
- Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical 2001
- What is rice?
- Tables magazine.
Other references
- http://en.wikipedia.org/Rice#United_States
- Embrapa, Origem e História do Arroz and Origem e História do Feijão (in Portuguese)
- Arroz e Feijão: Uma dupla infalível, Camaquã Alimentos (in Portuguese)