Navy beans stand in for sweet potatoes

Tag : potatoes
But beans work in a pie, especially if you're looking for a thick,stick-to your ribs dessert that doesn't take much to fill you up. Just ask Julia Nabaa of South Bend. I first learned about bean pie over 40 years ago, she says,referring to when she joined the Nation of Islam in 1962. Even then, bean pie had been common among Nation of Islam followersfor many years. Peter Engler, a Chicago geneticist with a long-held interest inChicago food (the Nation of Islam is headquartered in the city),earlier this year talked about bean pies in a presentation for theGreater Midwest Foodways Alliance in Chicago.

Bean pies were often baked in homes and mosques for celebrationsand fundraisers, with some bakeries making them as well. Why? Beans, specifically navy beans, received a rave review fromlongtime Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad in his two-volume How to Eat to Live: Simple navy beans is one of the best foods that we can eat. & I feel like I could eat a bowl full of beans right now while I amtalking about it. You can eat that bean seven days a week. It isvery appealing to the appetite.

That could partly explain why bean pie is peculiar to the Nation ofIslam and not as widely known as the more ubiquitous sweet potatopie.  It's almost an icon of the Nation of Islam, Engler said in atelephone interview. If you go into any random soul foodrestaurant &, it's not on the menu.  Part of the rationale behind substituting beans for sweet potatoes,Nabaa says, is to get rid of the foods thrown on us in slavery. Sweet potatoes eventually came back into favor, as they are similarto the yam, which is a staple food for Africans.

Nabaa, 67, a follower of the Nation of Islam under the leadershipof Imam Warith Deen Mohammad, first started making bean pie bystewing beans and running them through a Foley food mill. Cannedbeans, blenders and food processors have since made things a littlesimpler for bakers.  Elijah Muhammad, while not mentioning bean pie specifically, didwarn against seasoning beans too much. So bean pie recipes arefairly simple, with some flavor coming from sugar, nutmeg andcinnamon.