The epic quest to rescue the bean from oblivion
In a plot twist that no one saw coming, but that we should all have anticipated, the federal government has decided that the real enemy of the people is not insecurity or inflation, but the alarming decrease in the consumption of beans. Yes, you read that right. While the country debates other issues, the final battle for the future of this humble legume is being fought in the National Palace.
The heroine of this narrative is María Luisa Albores, director of Food for Wellbeing, who, with the solemnity of someone announcing a peace treaty, presented her war report on the state of food self-sufficiency. His diagnosis is clear: we Mexicans are betraying ourselves by stopping eating so many beans. Could it be an international conspiracy of quinoa producers? She didn’t say it, but rhetorical questions are useful.
A fair to save what time took away
Faced with this bleak panorama, the government’s solution has been as great as it is predictable: a National Bean Fair. Because nothing says “food revitalization” like a two-day event at the Monument to the Revolution, where producers from Zacatecas, Durango and Nayarit will try, with the strength of their smile and their sacks, to win back the hearts and stomachs of the capital’s residents. The event is on November 14 and 15, because saving the national culinary identity is a matter that, apparently, only requires one weekend.
Mrs. Albores, with the passion of an evangelical preacher, broke down the credentials of the “blessed bean.” It turns out that of the 150 species in the world, 57 are found in Mexico and 31 are endemic. A fascinating fact that will undoubtedly make diners who have abandoned beans for a low-carbohydrate diet beat their chests in regret. “Beans are the best there can be for the people of Mexico,” he declared before a president Claudia Sheinbaum who, I suppose, agreed with the seriousness of someone who receives a national intelligence report.
The most moving part of this epic was the official lament: in 1980, consumption per person was 16 kilos per year, but by 2021 it had fallen to only 9 kilos. Shakespearean tragedy unfolds on our tables. What dark force has distanced the Mexican from his gastronomic partner par excellence? Is the avocado taking you on a spree? The official did not go into those details, but “dissemination” is, apparently, the silver bullet.
The final solution: branded beans and a bag
The master plan for this reconquest is as simple as it is brilliant: a bagging plant that will allow the grain to be packaged directly with the Bienestar brand. Because we all know that what an ancient food really needs to regain its splendor is good packaging and an official logo. The mechanism is so virtuous that it hurts: the producer is paid a “fair price”, the government buys it, bags it and displays it in the Wellness Stores at the modest price of 30 pesos per kilo.
One can’t help but wonder if, in the midst of this fab crisis, a rehabilitation program has been considered for recovering bean-addicts, or perhaps a hotline to report those who replace their charro beans with a bowl of oatmeal. The situation is, without a doubt, serious. Meanwhile, in an act of almost poetic synchrony, the government invites us to rediscover the pleasure of the basic, the native, what has always been there, but now with an official seal and in a plastic bag.
So now you know, dear reader. The next time you sit down at the table, remember that you are not simply enjoying a meal, you are participating in a patriotic act. Or betraying the country, if it occurs to you to order a Caesar salad without the side order of beans. The revolution, it seems, will be bean or it will not be.
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