07/11/2025
💥 Bang In Some Beans! 💥
On Wednesday I attended the .foundation Beans Summit alongside a brilliant mix of nutritionists, public health professionals, policymakers, chefs and food companies, and what an un-bean-lievable event it was! 🙈
Did you know…
🫘 The UK grows around 800,000 tonnes of beans every year, but most are exported or used for animal feed. Yet we also import around 500,00 tonnes of beans annually?! 🤔 What a missed opportunity for UK producers
🫛Secondary school aged children eat the fewest beans of all age groups at just two-thirds of a portion per week? Come on kids - we can do better than that!
🫘Half of children’s bean intake comes from baked beans? Nothing wrong with the humble baked bean but there is definitely an opportunity to diversify here!
🫛 To align with the Planetary Health Diet (PHD) the UK needs to consume 7 times more beans than we do currently. Britain needs to up the beans!
And that’s exactly what the Food Foundation’s new campaign is all about. The goal is to bring together retailers, manufacturers, restaurants, caterers and influencers to inspire the UK to cook with and eat more beans.
Beans are a win-win-win for health, climate and equity. They’re high in fibre, low in fat, rich in protein and micronutrients, planet-friendly and affordable.
You may not be surprised that my focus for boosting the beans is about starting early!
Championing beans (including legumes and pulses) in the early years helps children accept and enjoy them for life. I’m all for no disguising, no trickery, just delicious bean-based meals, positive experiences and great role modelling 💪🏼 and this is exactly what we advocate at and just one of the many reasons why Nursery Kitchen have become official ‘Bean Promoters’ in this campaign 🫘🫛💚
Let’s make Britain full of beans from the very start!
