Those who ridicule vegetarian foods are finding increasing virtues in these nutritious products and renewed interest is now being evinced on legumes, considered the corner stone of a vegetarian diet. Though milk contributes high quality proteins in diets devoid of animal foods including fish, its high cost and unacceptability to those not consuming any foods originating from animals make it an non-viable source of proteins. This leaves legumes as the major source of proteins, the building blocks in the body. Of course the flatulence associated with legume consumption still puts of people from regular use as a food material in many western countries though regular consumption can condition the GI system to accommodate these nutritious food with minimum discomfort.
"Growing interest in Indian and other international cuisines, along with greater awareness of intolerance to gluten, a protein found in many grains, have fostered an interest in lentils and legumes, Barnes and others said. A general push toward eating healthier also has made high-fiber, high-protein, low-fat legumes more appealing, said Tina Ujlaki, executive food editor at Food and Wine magazine. "I think a lot of people are trying to move meat to the side of the plate rather than the center of the plate," Ujlaki said. "More people are trying legumes, vegetables. Also, people are trying to cut costs, and these ingredients are not that expensive.
"There's big bank for your buck moneywise and healthwise." The interest comes at a good time for farmers, who have seen production of lentils and dry peas rebound after drought ravaged the crop in 2008 in the top two producing states of North Dakota and Montana. The U.S. had record crops last year, producing 1.7 billion pounds of dry peas and 590 million pounds of lentils, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Right now, most of the market for the two crops is overseas, with two-thirds or more of U.S.-grown peas and lentils being exported, said Eric Bartsch, general manager of Bismarck-based United Pulse Trading Inc. Much of the demand has been in drought-ridden areas of India and other parts of South Asia as well as Turkey".
It is interesting that most of the crops grown in the US and Canada end up on the dining tables in other countries as very little is consumed locally. Just like promoting wheat consumption in Asia and Africa by the US through Wheat Associates a few years ago to increase its export, the US Dry Peas and Lentil Council does the same job to facilitate export of these legumes for which very little market exists in that country. The moot question is whether increased consumption of legumes in the US would further increase the already sky rocketing prices of these commodities in countries like India.
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