Beans and Rice Feeds the World

Summary

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Stuff You Should Know

Episode: “Beans and Rice Feeds the World”

Hosts: Josh Clark & Chuck Bryant

Air Date: August 4, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Josh and Chuck dig into the global phenomenon of beans and rice—exploring why this humble pairing shows up in so many cultures, its nutritional powerhouse status, and the complex history that led to its spread across continents. The hosts break down specific regional versions, culinary quirks, and the sociopolitical legacy embedded in such a simple dish.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

The Personal Connection & Ubiquity of Beans and Rice

• Josh and Chuck open with a playful debate about saying “beans and rice” vs. “rice and beans.”
  • [02:20] Chuck: “I’ve always said beans and rice.”
  • [02:24] Josh: “Really? I say the exact opposite…”
• Origin of the Episode’s Topic:
  • Chuck was inspired after eating beans and rice in Belize, noting its prevalence everywhere he’s traveled, especially in the West and on islands.
  • [03:10] Josh: “That’s a great idea! I definitely ate rice and beans for lunch today just from studying all this.”

Cultural Variants: Not Just One-Size-Fits-All

• Mexico:
  • Not a unified “rice and beans” dish; beans and rice are generally served side by side rather than mixed.
  • [05:32] Chuck: “Mexico…they actually don’t have a rice and beans dish. They just give you rice and beans. And that’s actually the authentic way…”
• Costa Rica & Nicaragua:
  • Gallo pinto—a breakfast staple with black beans, day-old rice, peppers, onions, cilantro, and eggs.
  • [05:54] Chuck: “In Costa Rica…they’ll have gallo pinto…Nicaragua also has a version of that…”
• Jamaica:
  • “Rice and peas” made with pigeon peas, simmered in coconut milk, seasoned with thyme, garlic, and scallions, often served at nearly every meal.
  • [06:29] Chuck: “…Jamaica, of course, has their rice and peas…known as the Jamaican coat of arms…”

Regional Ingredients & Foodways

• Culantro vs. Cilantro:
  • [07:53] Josh: “One of the biggest things I learned…was that culantro and cilantro are not just different spellings for the same thing…Culantro…is a completely different plant…but it’s used as a spice…has a pungent, garlicky taste…”
  • Found in sofrito, a crucial flavor base in Puerto Rican cuisine.
• Arroz con gandules:
  • Puerto Rico’s classic rice and pigeon peas, flavored with sofrito.
• Jamaican Seasoning:
  • Distinct “Holy Trinity”: thyme, garlic, scallions.
  • [33:02] Josh: “Red beans and rice…starts with the Holy Trinity: celery, onions, and green bell pepper. Jamaican Holy Trinity is thyme, garlic, and scallions…”

Deep History: Beans and Rice and the Atlantic Slave Trade

• African Origins:
  • Beans (particularly cowpeas/black-eyed peas) and native African rice were central to pre-colonial West African diets.
  • [13:41] Josh details the “Senegambian” region as the cradle of rice cultivation.
• Enslaved Africans:
  • Knowledge of rice farming from the “rice coast” (Senegal & Gambia) was explicitly sought after by plantation owners, leading to their forced migration to South Carolina and other regions.
  • [18:03] Chuck: “Carolina plantations were really seeking out the Senegambians to lead the rice planting effort… that’s where they concentrated their efforts as far as their brutal slave trade went.”
• Cultural Transmission:
  • Enslaved Africans brought crops, methods, and recipes with them, profoundly shaping what would become Creole, Southern, and Caribbean cuisines.
  • [19:18] Chuck: “They would bring over their food…once they reached their destination…they’d plant that stuff because it’s what they liked to eat…”
• Notable Historical Dishes:
  • Chibu Nyebe (Senegal): African rice and cowpeas, direct ancestor to American “Hoppin’ John.”
  • [15:48] Josh: “Chibu Nyebe…is considered…the earliest kind of documented rice and beans dish…there’s a direct line…to Hoppin’ John…”

Emotional and Social Context

• Delicate discussion on the horrors of slavery and how even cherished American cuisine owes a debt to that terrible past.
  • [20:05] Josh: “There’s such a fine line between just talking about stuff like this matter of factly…all of this stuff did happen…while also acknowledging just the horror that was, like, the basis of it…”

Spread to the Americas: Brazil, Cuba, Haiti, and the U.S.

• Brazil:
  • Home to “feijoada,” a rich black bean and meat stew eaten with rice every day.
  • [29:12] Josh: “My Portuguese is a little rusty, so I’m gonna say feijuada. Feijoada.”
• Cuba:
  • “Moros y Cristianos” (black beans and white rice) and “Congri” (red beans and rice), mirroring the island’s dual cultural heritage.
  • [30:22] Josh: “…the Catholic Spanish considered rice a pagan Moorish dish…that division is actually reflected in Cuba’s rice dish…”
• New Orleans / U.S. South:
  • Red beans and rice, originally from Haiti, became a traditional Monday (wash day) meal in New Orleans.
  • [27:46] Josh: “Monday was also wash day…washer women…would use the same coals to simmer rice and beans…throw in leftover ham from the day before…”

Why This Combo Conquered the World

• Nutritional Completeness:
  • Together, beans and rice form a nearly complete protein, providing all essential amino acids when consumed in the right ratio.
  • [42:00] Chuck: “If you eat rice and beans together, it’s a complete protein because they complement one another…”
  • [43:19] Chuck: “If you have a cup of cooked pintos…that’s about 50% of most amino acids but 27% of one called methionine…the rice fills it in.”
• Affordability and Accessibility:
  • Universally available staple crops, cheap, and easy to store or transport.
• Adaptability:
  • Tastes, sides, and spices adapt easily to local environments and personal/cultural preferences.
• The Anthropologist’s Perspective:
  • Sydney Mintz: “The core-fringe-legume pattern"—nearly every human diet features a core grain, a legume, and a “fringe” of flavorings/sauces.
  • [38:30] Chuck: “He basically says that in every culture, in their diet, they have a core grain involved...then you have a legume to complement that grain…”

Beyond Latin America and the Caribbean

• Rice and beans (or equivalents) show up with local variations in Ethiopia (injera bread and lentil stews), India (rajma chawal), Turkey (kuru fasulye with pilaf), and more.
  • [40:24] Josh: “In Ethiopia…that bread…injera. I don’t think you have a meal in Ethiopia without it.”
  • [41:15] Chuck: “India has something called rajma chawal…with red kidney beans and tomatoes…”

Beans: The Magical Fruit

• High in fiber, filling, heart-healthy, and lower cholesterol.
  • [47:03] Josh: “You get more than half of your daily fiber from one cup of pinto beans.”
  • [47:14] Chuck: “They lower your LDL cholesterol…the bad cholesterol…improve your gut health…”
  • Beans’ “magic” extends to flatulence, which the hosts discuss candidly and humorously.

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Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

On Beans & Rice as a Worldwide Comfort Food

• [03:10] Josh: “I definitely ate rice and beans for lunch today just from studying all this.”
• [45:57] Chuck: “When you see someone from the culture eating the thing that kind of defines and sustains their culture…It’s different. The way it goes down and the way it looks.”

On the Legacy of Slavery in Foodways

• [20:05] Josh: “There’s such a fine line between just talking about stuff like this matter of factly…while also acknowledging just the horror that was, like, the basis of it…”
• [18:42] Josh: “When you purchased a Senegambian slave, you were purchasing their knowledge as well as their labor to help plant low country rice in the Carolinas.”

Nutritional Goldmine

• [42:00] Chuck: “If you eat rice and beans together, it’s a complete protein because they complement one another and fill in the blanks…”
• [47:03] Josh: “Apparently you get more than half of your daily fiber from one cup of pinto beans.”

On Local Variants and Seasonings

• [08:09] Josh: “Culantro and cilantro are not just different spellings for the same thing…culantro…has a pungent, garlicky taste…”
• [33:02] Josh: “Jamaican Holy Trinity is thyme, garlic, and scallions, which I’m fine with both of those trinities.”

Food and Memory

• [44:50] Chuck: “Whenever I think of rice and beans, I think of this one man—I’m pretty sure he was a taxi driver, and he was eating in a Cuban restaurant in New York…”

Humor & Personality

• [33:46] Chuck: “And this year, I had a Scotch bonnet wing that was the hottest thing I’ve ever put in my mouth…It was unbelievably hot. It took 20 minutes for me to even feel normal again.”
• [48:13] Chuck: “It was delicious. I farted all night long.”
  • [48:21] Josh: “Yumi eats refried beans a surprising amount, and she does not fart.”
• [49:10] Josh: “This is a weird episode, Chuck.”

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Important Timestamps

• [02:20] – Beans and rice vs Rice and beans debate
• [03:10] – Personal inspiration for the topic
• [05:54] – Gallo pinto & regional variations
• [13:41] – Significance of African rice and the “rice coast”
• [15:48] – Chibu Nyebe and the direct line to Hoppin’ John
• [18:03] – How slavery spread rice and beans tradition in the American South
• [20:05] – Sensitive reflection on legacy of slavery
• [27:46] – New Orleans tradition of red beans and rice on Mondays
• [29:12] – Feijoada in Brazil
• [30:22] – Cuba’s “Moros y Cristianos”
• [33:02] – Jamaican rice and peas: unique seasonings
• [38:30] – Sydney Mintz’s anthropological theory
• [42:00] – The nutritional magic of the combo
• [47:03] – Fiber, cholesterol, and health effects of beans
• [48:13] – Flatulence and the lighter side of legumes

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Key Takeaways

• Beans and rice are a culinary and nutritional mainstay across continents, rooted in ingenuity, adaptation, and history.
• Their spread is intimately connected to global migration—including the tragedy of slavery—and ongoing economic and dietary needs.
• Nutritionally, they provide a cheap, filling, almost-complete protein and form the backbone of diets for billions.
• Regional flavorings and preparation methods give rise to distinct national and ethnic identities, making this humble dish anything but monotonous or boring.
• Beans and rice remain a living symbol—not just of survival, but also resourcefulness, adaptation, and cultural pride.

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Transcript

[Josh Clark]

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[Production/Announcer]

a production of iHeartRadio.

[Josh Clark]

Hey, and welcome to the podc. I'm Josh, and there's Chuck and Jerry's here too. When you put the three of us together, add a little miso. You got stuff you should know which rhymes with miso.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh boy, he rescued that one. I was on the edge of my seat, I was like, where's this one going?

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, well, you can always bring it back to rhyming. Yeah, unless it doesn't rhyme and then you got nothing.

[Chuck Bryant]

Well, something that doesn't rhyme is rice and beans. Or beans and rice.

[Josh Clark]

Which way do you prefer to say it?

[Chuck Bryant]

I've always said beans and rice.

[Josh Clark]

Really? I say the exact opposite. Hey, I say and rice. Beans, You doofus.

[Chuck Bryant]

So I think I was trying to figure out why I thought of this one. Because this was my idea. We did an episode on Rice last year and Just its importance as a crop all around the world. And I think maybe when I was in Belize, I had a beans and rice dish, and it just got me thinking. I was like, man, I feel like almost every country I've been to in the west and certainly every island, and there's, like, some version of beans and rice. And, like, I was kind of wondering what the deal was and why those. That the combination specifically of those two things was a thing. And I guess out of this, the idea was born.

[Josh Clark]

Well, that's a great idea. I'm glad you did. And I definitely ate rice and beans for lunch today just from studying all this. Oh, yeah. I. I put together what we had on hand. So I had pinto beans.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

Mixed with wild rice, which was actually really good.

[Chuck Bryant]

Interesting combo.

[Josh Clark]

It was. I took a cue from Jerry, and I actually added a little miso to it and stirred it all together. That helped really pull the room together. And then I put some tuna on there. On top.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, tuna on top. That's the Josh way.

[Josh Clark]

I was like, what would I call this? And I came up with a frijoles importantes.

[Chuck Bryant]

Did you really?

[Josh Clark]

Mm. Oh, no. That wasn't off the cuff. So, yeah, I guess I did. Really.

[Chuck Bryant]

My favorite bean if I'm gonna eat beans and rice is actually pinto beans. Although I'm not gonna turn my nose up at black beans or refried. Or refried black or any of that stuff. I love all that stuff, but I love pinto beans.

[Josh Clark]

What about red beans?

[Chuck Bryant]

I like red beans. Okay. But I much, much prefer pinto beans. Like, red beans and rice isn't my favorite out of the beans and rice dishes. And my favorite rice far and away is. And I don't know what the word for it is or if there is one, but the very, very traditional Mexican rice that my friend PJ makes and he's gonna teach me, that's made with, like, chicken stock and tomatoes, lard. It's just. It sort of turns out a light brown, orangey color.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

And it's not clumpy or sticky. It's all, like. The rice is very loose within each other. That's my favorite kind of rice. Is that specific kind of Mexican rice.

[Josh Clark]

It's almost like a orzo.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. But like, other places, like, the place down the street has, like, a cilantro rice, which is really good, but I like just that. Really traditional Mexican rice.

[Josh Clark]

No, I agree with you. One of the ironic things, Dave helped us with this, and he pointed something out that I hadn't really considered. You said that, like, Everywhere you've been to in the west, or any island especially has their own beans and rice dish. Right. Mexico is what I always associate with, or it's certainly initially associated with rice and beans. And they actually don't have a rice and beans dish. They just give you rice and beans. And that's actually the authentic way that Mexico does it. They don't have like a national rice and beans dish.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, that's like combined. Although, let's be honest, it gets on that plate. What are you doing? You're eating that stuff together on one forkful at a time.

[Josh Clark]

But they stopped one step short. All they had to do is come up with a name for mixing together the rice and beans, and they would be like every other Caribbean Central and South American nation for sure.

[Chuck Bryant]

And, you know, we'll kind of hop around to these in more detail. But like, for instance, in Costa Rica, a lot of time for breakfast, they'll have spotted rooster or gallo pinto. And, you know, everyone's is a little different. They have like a onion saute with bell peppers, black beans, the rice from the day before with some chopped cilantro, some eggs on the side. Nicaragua also has a version of that as well, which is really good. I bet.

[Josh Clark]

Me and Yumi went to Nicaragua and I don't remember having this, and I feel like we really missed out.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, really?

[Josh Clark]

Because it sounds really good.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. Jamaica, of course, has their rice and peas, which is a little bit different. It's known as the Jamaican coat of arms. And we definitely had rice and peas in Jamaica. And they're talking about pigeon peas in this case.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. Which is a kind of bean. Not peas. Peas.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

Which no one likes. No one sane likes peas.

[Chuck Bryant]

I love green peas, English peas.

[Josh Clark]

Do you?

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

I do not like them. What's funny is Momo takes after me because she will, like, eat her whole breakfast or her whole dinner. And if there's a pea in it and it's not mashed together with everything else, she will just eat everything else but that pea.

[Chuck Bryant]

Do you make her own food or do you use one of those, like, fresh food dog food things?

[Josh Clark]

Oh, Yumi. Yumi cooks for a few times a week. Yeah. So she gives her peas, but she'll mash em up.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, that's good. You know, my buddy Justin, we talk about Justin all the time now. They put their dogs on a raw foods diet and they throw all kinds of stuff in there. They'll have like, they have chickens, and so they'll throw the chicken eggs in there and the eggshells and just all sorts of stuff. And those dogs are as, like, healthy and slim and shiny as I've ever seen them.

[Josh Clark]

I'm sure Momo's food is cooked. It's not raw, but she has a pretty great diet, for sure.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, you should try the raw thing.

[Josh Clark]

All right.

[Ari Chambers]

Sure.

[Chuck Bryant]

I mean, we should all try the raw thing. It's really good for you.

[Josh Clark]

So, Chuck, one of the biggest things that I learned in this episode was that culantro and cilantro are not just different spellings for the same thing. Yeah, I did not know that. Did you? You didn't.

[Chuck Bryant]

I think I did.

[Josh Clark]

All right, well, cilantro is what? Well, it's cilantro. Everybody knows cilantro. It tastes like dish soap. Culantro is something totally different. It looks different. It's a completely different plant, but it's used as a spice or an herb. It's got a pungent, garlicky taste, and it just doesn't taste anything like cilantro. But if you've ever had sofrito, which is, I guess, almost like a seasoning as much as it is a dish. Yeah, that. That has culantro in it.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. I like sofrito.

[Josh Clark]

I do, too. Although at. What's the place? The. The place? The. The burrito place. Chipotle.

[Chuck Bryant]

Chipotle, yeah.

[Josh Clark]

Their sofrito is all tofu, so that's my really only experience with sofrito. I'm like. I kind of like this, but not all that much.

[Chuck Bryant]

That's because it's tofu.

[Josh Clark]

The reason I bring up sofrito is because in Puerto Rico, that's a big part of their rice and beans, actually. Rice and pigeon peas, too. They call theirs arroz con gandules.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, Delicious. I've had that in Puerto Rico.

[Josh Clark]

Boy, you've been all over, haven't you?

[Chuck Bryant]

Well, I had never been to any Caribbean island in my life until, like, 10 years ago. And then we started. You know, once we had a daughter, we started doing some of those places, and we. We've ticked a few of those off the list, and they're the people that all of. I haven't had a bad experience at any of them.

[Josh Clark]

No, I'm sure not. Have you been to Aruba?

[Chuck Bryant]

Have not been to Aruba yet.

[Josh Clark]

Strongly recommend.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, okay.

[Josh Clark]

It's great. It's a good. Beautiful, beautiful beaches. Really nice, slow pace.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

The only thing is, you know how you said, like, I'll. I'll like every Caribbean island has its own rice dish. They also typically have their own like signature, like tiki drink.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, yeah, sure.

[Josh Clark]

And Aruba's is lacking. It's not that great. It's something that they could, they could really focus on and improve. But I think there's like, it's good enough. It's fine. But that was the only. I don't even call it a complaint. That was the only thing of note. Now that was the only, well, complaint I had about Aruba in the entire country. It's just really cool.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, great. Well, check it out. I know we're going to Bermuda on our cruise. That'll be a first time for me.

[Josh Clark]

Do you mean the Bahamas or Bermuda?

[Chuck Bryant]

I mean Bermuda, baby.

[Josh Clark]

Same here. I've never been either.

[Chuck Bryant]

And we'll be there together.

[Josh Clark]

We are. It's gonna be pretty cute.

[Chuck Bryant]

All right, let's talk about beans and rice because we need to talk about each of these a little bit. Beans are some of the oldest foods in the world as far as cultivating and growing something. We have archeological evidence that it was grown in Mesoamerica as early as 7,000 BC and it is a legume. And that means that it is a seed grown in a pod. And that's the deal. Bean farmers from the ancient times, they would select these pods that didn't split open when the beads matured. And they could like dry and store them easier because that's, I mean, eating something out of a can is great, but if you really want to make some great beans, you should get dried beans and take the time to do that that way.

[Josh Clark]

I have never, ever, ever done that. I don't think.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, man.

[Josh Clark]

And if I have, I don't think they actually turned out. I think I have tried it before and it was like, how does this even work?

[Chuck Bryant]

Well, do you have a instapot or a pressure cooker?

[Josh Clark]

No, I'm bereft.

[Chuck Bryant]

Okay. That's the best way to do it. Or maybe the easiest modern way to do it.

[Josh Clark]

But the old timey people didn't have pressure cookers. So how did they do?

[Chuck Bryant]

Well, that's why I changed my stance from best, because that's probably the best way is however they did it, they probably just played the long game and stewed and boiled them over hours and hours and hours.

[Josh Clark]

I mean, I know you have to soak them like overnight to start, even just even to get started, but yeah, I've never. I'll have to give it a try again.

[Chuck Bryant]

That's why you never did it. You're not going to make start on tomorrow's meal today. That's not the Josh way.

[Josh Clark]

So you were talking about the common bean, right? Yeah. That was the one from Mesoamerica. That's what we think about with, like, I guess, like pinto beans and black beans and all that. Right. There's plenty of other kinds of beans. I mean, we mentioned pigeon peas. I think those are African, right?

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

There's also black eyed peas, which are known in Africa as cow peas.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. Love black eyed peas.

[Josh Clark]

So there's plenty of other peas that don't come from Mesoamerica. Chickpeas, lentils. Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

Favas.

[Josh Clark]

They're not from Mesoamerica. Fava beans.

[Chuck Bryant]

I love a fava.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. With a nice Chianti.

[Chuck Bryant]

Africa is. I mean, here's the spoiler. We have Africa to think for. Well, a lot. But we have Africa specifically in this episode to thank, mainly for beans and rice. We'll talk about rice a little bit. We went over, obviously, rice a lot in our rice episode, but there's the Asian variety and the African variety of rice. And in the 1400s, basically, in 1500s, Portuguese traders introduced the Asian rice to Africa. And that basically replaced the native species because it was easier to grow. And it was, you know, you could. Because it was easier to grow, it was more lucrative. But that original African rice was cultivated on what was called the rice coast in West Africa.

[Josh Clark]

Right. Apparently we have the Senegal Gambians, which is now Senegal and Gambia. Have you ever seen a map of Senegal and Gambia?

[Chuck Bryant]

I don't know that I've ever paid attention.

[Josh Clark]

I think the Gambia river kind of goes through the middle of the country, and if you put a buffer around the river that's Gambia, it's like it stabs from the coast into Senegal. It's really interesting. But they used to be one empire. And this empire was essentially considered the cradle of West African or even all of Africa's rice. So if you felt like coming over and stealing African people from their homes to. To plant rice in the New World, you would visit Senegal or Gambia.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. I mean, I can't remember now what we talked about in the rice episode, but there obviously it was a theory that the Spanish conquistadors are who brought rice to, like, the Spanish Caribbean and Mexico. But, you know, there is an argument that because enslaved Africans were brought over in such great numbers, that they brought the culture of it. Because apparently the conquistadors were Spanish Catholics in the 16th century who thought rice was like pagan food of Muslim Moors. So while they might have technically brought rice, they didn't have the culture of Knowing about rice and knowing how to grow it and how to best eat it that they had in West Africa. So in Mexico, when West Africans arrived there as slave labor, they brought their rice with them and probably first planted rice in Mexico.

[Josh Clark]

Right, exactly. I thought that was pretty interesting.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, for sure. And the original sort of, I guess ancestor you would call it, of African beans and rice dishes is from Senegal and it's called Chibu nyebe. And that is African rice and cow peas that were native to West Africa there. And it's considered a sacred dish over there.

[Ari Chambers]

Yes.

[Josh Clark]

And cow peas, remember I said are black eyed peas. So this is like black eyed peas in rice. This is considered like at least the earliest kind of documented rice and beans dish that. That anyone's been able to trace back to West Africa. And there's a direct line between that and Hoppin John, which is essentially the same thing. You just add a pound of bacon when you cook it and change the name.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. And I think they're both generally served or traditionally served with. Geez, why am I blanking now? The green collards. Collard greens.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. I forgot about that part.

[Chuck Bryant]

I love collard greens, but have you ever tried to make them?

[Josh Clark]

I actually make a really good collard green.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, okay. I bet it's good. But the problem is you gotta buy like. Gotta get like three grocery carts full of em to make a meal for a family.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, I just throw it away.

[Chuck Bryant]

They cook down.

[Josh Clark]

No, you have to have a really good sized stock pot.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

Another thing you can do is wilt it a little bit first so you don't need as big of a stock pot.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, that's a good idea. Look at you.

[Josh Clark]

The biggest pain is to wash it off.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

Because there's so much of it washing all the grid off. You just can't find collards unless they're bagged and already washed.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

If you're going with fresh, you gotta wash em off. And it's a pain.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, totally.

[Josh Clark]

But I don't like pork. I don't eat pig if I ever can help it. Because again, they're really smart and I feel terrible. Turkeys are not smart and I have no problem eating them. And so I would use like a smoked turkey wing rather than a ham hock. And it does the same thing. It's really good. A little bit of rice wine vinegar in there. And like it's essentially those two ingredients are about it.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, that's. You know, I'm not a big vinegar guy, but that's where I like vinegar in my calories.

[Josh Clark]

I'm so good with it.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yep. And of course, that's a southern thing, but also, like we said, comes from Senegal originally in spirit. At least. We talked about in the rice episode. The Emily just walked by and is waving at me, and she never does that. Hey, Josh says hello. She didn't wait back.

[Josh Clark]

No, I'm just kidding.

[Chuck Bryant]

She didn't hear me. In the American south, rice was a huge cash crop before cotton and tobacco came along. And of course, in Carolina, because recently it was probably the rice episode where we talked about the Carolina gold rice. Carolina plantations were really seeking out the Senegambians to lead the rice planting effort there. And so that's where they concentrated their efforts as far as their brutal slave trade went.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. That was a real distinction between the slave trade that came later when it was a focus on sugar cane and cotton.

[Chuck Bryant]

Right.

[Josh Clark]

Is when you purchased a Senegambian slave, you were purchasing their knowledge as well as their labor to help plant low country rice in the Carolinas.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

Which, you know, that's the other. One of the other things, too, is these same West African early slaves introduced a lot of root vegetables to America as well, because they were, in some cases, a lot of cases, I would imagine, able to grow their own food. And so they would grow stuff from home, like yams and things like that.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, I mean, well, on slave ships, they would bring over their food to obviously sustain them for that trip. And then once they reached wherever their destination was, which was a huge diaspora, obviously they would plant that stuff because that's what they like to eat. And before you know it, if they were working in the plantation homes and serving the plantation owners, they would serve them those meals. And that's how it spread. It's a pretty ugly past that we have to acknowledge.

[Josh Clark]

You know, I was thinking about that. I don't know if this is gonna end up in the episode, but there's like. There's such a fine line between just talking about stuff like this matter of factly, because all of this stuff did happen.

[Chuck Bryant]

I know.

[Josh Clark]

While also acknowledging just the horror that was, like, the basis of it or going on in the background without hitting everybody over the head.

[Chuck Bryant]

Right.

[Josh Clark]

And detracting from what you're trying to say.

[Chuck Bryant]

No, I'm with you, man. It's an uncomfortable topic every time, but we can't do episodes on things like so much that we owe to Africa, and we're certainly not going to whitewash it, so.

[Josh Clark]

No, no, no.

[Chuck Bryant]

It's just One of those things.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. No, I don't mean to suggest.

[Chuck Bryant]

No, no, no.

[Josh Clark]

Let's stop talking about that part.

[Chuck Bryant]

We weren't. I knew you weren't suggesting that, obviously.

[Josh Clark]

No, no. But one thing that did kind of stand out to me was so the first you. You mentioned, like, if you worked in, like, the plantation house, you might serve something from home. And that's where Hoppin John came from, Quite clearly. From the Chibu Niyibe to Hoppin John actually went through a South Carolina Charleston aristocrat named Sarah Rutledge, who anonymously wrote an 1847 cookbook that was the first printed recipe for Hoppin John. And so it's quite clear that her. Her enslaved staff was like, let me make you something from my homeland. And she was like, this is crazy good. But that, like, that kind of brought me into that actual, like, dining room where there are people sitting there. And I'm sure Sarah Rutledge was like, you're never going to guess what my, you know, Tanya has made for us as a special treat, showing off to her guests.

[Chuck Bryant]

Right.

[Josh Clark]

What her enslaved servant has come up with. And it, like, just think about sitting at that table and being served by somebody who, you know, is not allowed to leave.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

And if they try to leave, they will be murdered. And the person who murdered them is not going to be arrested or tried or convicted. And that's just how things are.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

Really think about, like, sitting at that table. Isn't that nuts?

[Chuck Bryant]

I know it's hard to wrap your head around. And I wonder if there are, like, existing diaries from people of the time that had any new. Like, if any of them felt bad about this stuff.

[Josh Clark]

I wondered that, too, because. Yes. You know, a lot of times people are like, well, they were just of their time. And that certainly does explain a lot of behavior. Like, that's just how society was. So there are plenty of people who probably didn't give much thought to it.

[Chuck Bryant]

Right.

[Josh Clark]

There is no way there wasn't also plenty of people, and I'm sure including people in the south who were like, this is messed up. And maybe they didn't do anything about it or say anything about it, but surely there were.

[Chuck Bryant]

No. You'd like to think so. You know. All right, let's take a break and regather. It's an interesting thought experiment. And we'll come back and get back to beans and rice right after this.

[Mandy Woodruff Santos]

This is Mandy Woodruff Santos from Brown Ambition. You probably think of Walmart as a store that carries just about everything under the sun. And maybe not as the place to discover small brands. Well, two things can be true at the same time, because Walmart is home to thousands of small brands founded by people who had an idea, took a chance, and built something of their own. Behind every one is a real story and a lot of hard work. So why not take a little time to recognize all the people building small brands across the country and support everything they're creating? Walmart is proud to give those brands a place on its shelf. And online, it's never been easier to find and support small brands. So take a look at Walmart. You might come across something new, something unexpected, or a brand whose story speaks to you. You never know what you're missing until you look. Discover thousands of small [e-mail] what's up, fam?

[Ari Chambers]

I'm sports journalist Ari Chambers.

[Sam J]

Hey, what's up, y'?

[Josh Clark]

All?

[Sam J]

It's your girl, Sam J.

[Ari Chambers]

And we're the host of Everyone Watches Women's Sports, a new podcast from Together and I heart women's sports because, let's

[Sam J]

be real, women's sports is giving us way too much to talk about these days.

[Ari Chambers]

So Kelsey Finler, she became the first female solo rower to go from California to Hawaii.

[Sam J]

My first thought is just like, what's up with the snacks? Like, what are we?

[Josh Clark]

What are we eating?

[Ari Chambers]

The highlights, the rivalries, the. The breakout stars, the moments that take

[Sam J]

over your entire timeline and the conversations that start during the game and somehow keep going all week. Every week, we're breaking down the biggest stories across women's sports.

[Ari Chambers]

Naomi Osaka showing out. She beat Sabalenka.

[Sam J]

Shout outs to you, Naomi, you get the Palm.

[Ari Chambers]

Naomi, you get the Palm for that.

[Sam J]

Because we're not just interested in what happened. We're interested in why everyone's talking about it. Because everyone watches women's sports. The listen to everyone watches women's Sports

[Ari Chambers]

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or

[Sam J]

wherever you get your podcasts.

[Fred Armisen]

Hey, Portlandia fans.

[Production/Announcer]

Kerry Brownstein and Fred Armisen here, you

[Fred Armisen]

know us, or rather, you know them. Tony and Candace, Nina and Lance, Spike and yes, the chicken.

[Production/Announcer]

We've played a lot of iconic characters over the years, but today we're showing up as ourselves to tell you about Podlandia. Ao rewatch our brand new podcast.

[Fred Armisen]

Each week we'll revisit an episode of Portlandia from the very beginning, breaking down the sketches, exploring the backstories of our most iconic characters, revisiting the Portland locations you know and love, and opening up about our creative process.

[Production/Announcer]

How did any of this get made? Why do we think that was a good idea? We're ready to talk about it.

[Fred Armisen]

And we'll also be joined by the people who helped bring it all to life. Guest stars, collaborators, and friends, including director Jonathan Krisel, the mayor himself, Kyle McLaughlin, legendary musician Amy Mann, and many more.

[Production/Announcer]

Kyle is going for it. Here you fully improvised. Not just words, but a song, a melody.

[Chuck Bryant]

Well, I thought he was gonna write. I thought you were all gonna write a song.

[Production/Announcer]

I remember you thinking that.

[Fred Armisen]

Listen to Podlandia Ayo rewatch on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Josh Clark]

And then you came along and.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, well, we were work pals. All right, we're back with beans and rice. We were talking about, obviously, the spread of beans and rice through the African slave trade. That is certainly the case in Louisiana and New Orleans, another state here in the United States, the southern United States, where African beans and rice dishes came over. And in their case, like you mentioned earlier, the classic red beans and rice that actually started out in Haiti, where enslaved Africans worked on sugarcane and coffee plantations there owned by French colonists. And in that case, they cooked up pigeon peas and rice in a dish. And you're gonna have to say this because it's French.

[Josh Clark]

Riz et poys. Rue guay.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, come on. Play along. Yeah, there you go. And that's the original New Orleans red beans and rice came from Africans via Haiti.

[Josh Clark]

Is that what that means?

[Chuck Bryant]

Well, I mean, that's.

[Josh Clark]

I guess so.

[Chuck Bryant]

That's the lineage.

[Josh Clark]

The thing I didn't know about this, this is my favorite. Red beans and rice, I think is so great. I mean, just because of the flavor. Sausage taste to it. Yeah, the flavor. Right. But one thing I didn't know about it is, so apparently Monday is the traditional day to eat red beans and rice.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

And Monday was also wash day back in the antebellum era of New Orleans. So the women, the washer women, who were, well, doing the laundry on Mondays would use the same coals, not the same water, but the same coals to simmer rice and beans later on. And they would throw in leftover ham from the day before Sunday's dinner. And you have red beans and rice on wash day.

[Production/Announcer]

Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

And apparently that's still a tradition. I think schools in New Orleans still serve red beans and rice on Mondays.

[Josh Clark]

That's pretty great.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. We can concentrate on a few countries now. Cause, again, I mean, we could talk about dozens of countries that have these dishes, but about half of the 12 million enslaved Africans that came over during the Atlantic slave trade landed in Brazil. So we're going to talk a little bit about Brazil, Cuba and Jamaica specifically. And today Brazil has maybe. I mean, it's hard to pit these against each other, but they may have the strongest beans in rice culture in the Americas because they are like every lunch and dinner, like, we should have beans and rice.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. Which, I mean, that makes sense. Their beans and rice dish is called. My Portuguese is a little rusty, so I'm gonna say feijuada. Feijuada.

[Chuck Bryant]

Actually, look this one up.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, let's hear it. How close was that?

[Chuck Bryant]

There's a joie sound, so it's apparently feijoada.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. All right, Sorry. Feijoada.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, there you go.

[Josh Clark]

Feu joie de vivre. That is their rice and beans dish. And just like riz et poireuge, there's a definite connection to the slavery area of Brazil as well.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, for sure. Because they would do like they did in the American south, they would take what were called, like, the undesirable cuts of meat that were cast off by the plantation owners and like pork cheek and pig's feet and ham hocks and stuff like that, jowls. And they would use that stuff. And so the best way usually to cook that kind of thing is a very slow cooked stew. And that's what feijoada is. So they could simmer that thing all day long while they were toiling and working. And they eat that with collard greens. Actually, that may be what I was thinking earlier. Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

Still, I mean, we can rewrite history with collard greens. Right.

[Chuck Bryant]

What about Cuba?

[Josh Clark]

So you mentioned how the Catholic Spanish considered rice a pagan Moorish dish or food. That division is actually reflected in Cuba's rice dish. Well, it depends. I think the west side of Cuba eats this. It's called moros y Christianos, more like Moors, or Muslims and Christians. And it's black beans and rice, white rice. And then the other side of the island eats congre, which is red beans and rice.

[Chuck Bryant]

That's right. And apparently it's a metaphor for modern Cuba as well. That's a cuber.

[Josh Clark]

Modern Cuba, it's like people who say Washington.

[Sam J]

Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

Where you have, you know, a sort of fairly equal divide of white people and black people in Cuba and about, I think, as high as 65% of Cubans descended from enslaved Africans because the indigenous Taino people, that was the population of Cuba before the Spanish colonizers came along and basically killed them off. Not completely, but decimated them.

[Josh Clark]

Right. The Congre, though, the red beans and rice that also probably came from Haiti, just like red beans and rice came to New Orleans after the Haitian Revolution, when a bunch of former slaves were like, let's start traveling.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. And, you know, rice and beans is a big deal in Cuba because of the various times over the years that. Or decades, rather, that they've been in food crisis because of initially, like, the collapse of the Soviet Union and then, you know, still ongoing US Trade embargoes that have left Cuba in a bad state. So rice and beans, apparently, is sort of a symbol of their determination as a people to get by.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. I thought that was pretty cool.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

And then we can't not talk about Jamaica. Jamaica is its own thing as far as rice and beans go. Not only do they call their beans peas, because, remember, they're pigeon peas.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

They cook theirs, like, way differently from everybody else. They simmer it in coconut milk. Huge difference. Yeah. That is they cook the rice and the beans together in one pot rather than cooking them separately and bringing them together on the plate. They also use different seasonings. So with red beans and rice, it starts with the Holy Trinity, celery, onions, and green bell pepper. Right. Jamaican Holy Trinity is thyme, garlic, and scallions, which I'm fine with both of those trinities.

[Chuck Bryant]

Sure.

[Josh Clark]

And then they also spice theirs up, literally, with allspice, but also with Scotch bonnet peppers, which no human has any business going anywhere near.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, those are pretty spicy.

[Josh Clark]

And they. That's. I mean, like, this is its own dish. But you said it before, it was the Jamaican coat of arms. It's just so common that you just have that, like, every meal, from what I understand.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, for sure. I had a. Almost every year here in one of the neighborhoods near me in Kirkwood, they have the Kirkwood Spring Fling, and then they have the Chicken wing contest. The Wing Fling. And my buddy Matt, that lives near us, who's a Stuff youf Should Know guy, has gotten me to be one of the quote, unquote, celebrity judges most years.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, yeah? Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

And this year, I had a Scotch bonnet wing that was the hottest thing I've ever put in my mouth.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

By far.

[Josh Clark]

And that's not even close to, like, the hottest pepper.

[Chuck Bryant]

I know. It was unbelievably hot. It took 20 minutes for me to even feel normal again.

[Josh Clark]

I'm sure it was bad. They're pretty, though. That's the thing. That's how they get you. You're like, wow, that's a pretty pepper.

[Chuck Bryant]

This chicken wing was a color orange I've never seen before.

[Josh Clark]

Man, forget that. I would have been like, well, I'm not the celebrity judge anymore, I guess.

[Chuck Bryant]

Should we take another break?

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, let's.

[Chuck Bryant]

All right. We'll be right back with why beans and rice is popular right after. Foreign.

[Mandy Woodruff Santos]

This is Mandy Woodruff Santos from Brown Ambition. You probably think of Walmart as a store that carries just about everything under the sun and maybe not as the place to discover small brands. Well, two things can be true at the same time because Walmart is home to thousands of small brands founded by people who had an idea, took a chance, and built something of their own. Behind everyone is a real story and a lot of hard work. So why not take a little time to recognize all the people building small brands across the country and support everything they're creating? Walmart is proud to give those brands a place on its shelf. And online, it's never been easier to find and support small brands. So take a look at Walmart. You might come across something new, something unexpected, or a brand whose story speaks to you. You never know what you're missing until you look. Discover thousands of small [e-mail] what's up, fam?

[Ari Chambers]

I'm sports journalist Ari Chambers.

[Sam J]

Hey, what's up, y'?

[Josh Clark]

All?

[Sam J]

It's your girl, Sam J.

[Ari Chambers]

And we're the host of Everyone Watches Women's Sports, a new podcast from together. And I heart women's sports because, let's

[Sam J]

be real, women's sports is giving us way too much to talk about these days.

[Ari Chambers]

So Kelsey Finler, she became the first female solo rower to get to go from California to Hawaii.

[Sam J]

My first thought is just like, what's up with the snacks? Like, what are we?

[Josh Clark]

What are we eating?

[Ari Chambers]

The highlights, the rivalries, the breakout stars, the moments that take over your entire

[Sam J]

timeline and the conversations that start during the game and somehow keep going all week. Every week, we're breaking down the biggest stories across women's sports.

[Ari Chambers]

Naomi Osaka showing out. She beat Sabalenka.

[Sam J]

Shout outs to you, Naomi.

[Josh Clark]

You get the Palm.

[Ari Chambers]

Naomi, you get the Palm for that.

[Sam J]

Because we're not just interested in what happened. We're interested in why everyone's talking about it. Because everyone watches women's sports. Listen to everyone watches women's Sports on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

[Josh Clark]

Hey, Portlandia fans, Kerry Brownstein and Fred

[Fred Armisen]

Armisen here, you know us, or rather, you know them. Tony and Candace, Nina and Lance, Spike and yes, the chicken.

[Production/Announcer]

We've played a Lot of iconic characters over the years, but today we're showing up as ourselves to tell you about Podlandia AO Rewatch our brand new podcast.

[Fred Armisen]

Each week, we'll revisit an episode of Portlandia from the very beginning, breaking down the sketches, exploring the backstories of our most iconic characters, revisiting the Portland locations you know and love, and opening up about our creative process.

[Production/Announcer]

How did any of this get made? Why do we think that was a good idea? We're ready to talk about it.

[Fred Armisen]

And we'll also be joined by the people who helped bring it all to life, guest stars, collaborators, and friends, including director Jonathan Krisel, the mayor himself, Kyle McLaughlin, legendary musician Amy Mann, and many more.

[Production/Announcer]

Kyle is going for it. Here you fully improvised, not just words, but a song.

[Chuck Bryant]

Well, I thought he was gonna write. I thought you were all gonna write a song.

[Production/Announcer]

I remember you thinking that.

[Fred Armisen]

Listen to Podlandia Ayo rewatch on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast Podcasts.

[Josh Clark]

And you came along and it was

[Chuck Bryant]

like, Yeah, well, we were work pals.

[Josh Clark]

So, Chuck, we've been focusing mainly on the Caribbean, Latin America, and Africa as far as, like, rice dishes go, right? Yeah. And a little bit of the United States. More the southern area.

[Chuck Bryant]

Sure.

[Josh Clark]

There's, like, rice and bean dishes are, like, so universally eaten by traditional cultures around the world that there's actually an anthropologist named Sydney Mintz who's like, I think this is actually one of the oldest dishes humans make and that it's been sustaining cultures around the world for thousands and thousands of years.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, he's got his own theory. It's called the core fringe legume pattern. And it's those three things. He basically says that in every culture in their diet, they have a core grain involved. And as you can tell from our rice episode in this one, a lot of the time it's rice. It can be other things depending on where you are, but rice is definitely one of the big ones. And then you have a legume to complement that grain. In this case, beans or peasants. And then you've got the fringe.

[Josh Clark]

Right, the fringe. This is fringe, as in Surrey with the fringe on top. Like a decoration, not a peripheral. Right?

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

It's the sauces, it's the seasonings, the herbs and spices that make each rice or grain and bean dish unique to a specific group or region. Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

And he basically is like, this is this combination of these three things. He calls it, quote, the basic building blocks of world cuisine. And it's a very Just super ancient thing that's been around all over the world forever.

[Josh Clark]

I found that interesting that he makes a point, though. It doesn't have to be rice, I think even though half of the world eats rice every day, but there is other kinds of grains as well. Like, have you ever had Ethiopian food?

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, it's been a while.

[Josh Clark]

They have, like, these kind of pancake like breads.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, yeah.

[Josh Clark]

Very flat bread. And you put the food basically into that and make like a little tostada or burrito or something out of it, essentially. Or you can use it to sop stuff up. Yeah. But, like, that's their main grain. Like, they. I don't think you have a meal in Ethiopia without that. That bread.

[Chuck Bryant]

Do you know what it's called?

[Josh Clark]

Injera. Injera.

[Chuck Bryant]

Injera.

[Josh Clark]

I think so.

[Chuck Bryant]

That sounds good. I need to eat some Ethiopian food.

[Josh Clark]

It's been a while for me, but every time I've had it, I. I loved it.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

And I mean, Ethiopia is just one place of many. There's a lot of other places that also that do use rice as the core grain that are nowhere near Latin America, the Middle East. I believe in Persia. They have a ton of different beans and rice dishes. India has something called rajma chawal, which, I mean, it doesn't matter what it is. If it's Indian food, I'll eat it and love it. But they have rajma chawal would not exist without the new world, because they make it with red kidney beans and tomatoes, both of which come from the new world. And then they India it up with basmati rice.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Indian food is not something I would associate with red kidney beans, so I'll have to try to seek that out for sure.

[Josh Clark]

And then Turkey has something. It's a staple called kuru Fasuli. Fasuli v pilaf. And it's a rice pilaf with white bean stew, which sounds good too.

[Chuck Bryant]

I love white beans. Like a white bean chili.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. But Sydney mint seems to be onto something, though. You know, like, they. The rice and beans in particular seem to be, like, all over the place. And anytime something's like that, nearly universal, it's probably pretty old.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. And probably fairly healthy. Because if ancient cultures are eating stuff for thousands of years, it's probably not, you know, junk food.

[Josh Clark]

Right.

[Chuck Bryant]

And that's new. You probably heard, like, you know, if you eat rice and beans together, it's a complete protein because they complement one another and filling in the blanks of what, like, the key amino Acids that the other is missing. And the amino acids are the building blocks of protein. And it's not like that's not a hundred percent true, but it's kind of true.

[Josh Clark]

I've seen both. I've seen that, yeah, essentially it is a complete protein. If you put them both together and eat enough. I feel like, yes, that's the key. I think if you really want to nitpick, you can be like, well, a complete protein has 100% of all of the essential amino acids that you need. They're essential because your body doesn't make them in abundant enough supply so that we have to get them from external sources, I. E. Food. And I think there's nine of them. Yeah, there's nine of them. If you eat a steak or some tuna or like a protein like that, bam, you're covered. And it doesn't take very much. The critique of rice and beans as a complete protein is yes, if you put them together, they contain enough of everything that if you eat enough rice and beans, you'll have a complete protein. I think the world generally is like, no, it's a complete protein. Stop being pedantic, putz.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, if you have a cup of cooked pintos, that's 6 ounces, that's about 50% of most amino acids, but 27% of one called methionine. So that's what's missing on the bean side. A cup of cooked white rice provides about 10 to 20% of most of those amino acids and 14% of the methionine. But when you eat them together and you eat enough, and I think they say the ideal ratio is about 80% rice dry protein to 20% bean, it's basically a complete protein. You just have to eat a little more. But low carb people are like, why would you do that when you can have a three ounce steak and get all you need?

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. And the beans and rice people are like, why would you kill an animal when you can eat rice and beans?

[Chuck Bryant]

That's a good point. Did you ever eat at the Grit in Athens before it closed? The vegetarian restaurant over off Prince Avenue off downtown.

[Josh Clark]

It was not my place, but I ate there before. I mean, I don't think you could live in Athens at that time and not eat there.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, I think Michael Stipe might have been an owner at one point or co owner or maybe an investor. But they. If you were a poor college student, which was like most of the people I knew and me and myself could go to the Grit and get. It was called the staple. And it was just white rice and beans with some spices. And it was like three bucks or something. And we would eat that a lot. It was a good way to get a fairly healthy lunch in your body as a college student for not much.

[Josh Clark]

Whenever I think of rice and beans, I think of this one man. I'm pretty sure he was a taxi driver, and he was eating in a Cuban restaurant in New York, Upper east side, where Yumi's and my friend Molly lives. And it was just around the corner from Molly's house where we were staying. And this guy was winter, and he just had this bowl of rice and beans and he was eating it. He could have been. He was middle aged. He could have been a little kid. He could have been an old man. The way he was eating it, he was enjoying it. But it was so, so, like, clearly the, the. The consuming that dish was so ingrained in this man that like, it was its own thing. Like you could have put anybody else in front of that bowl. Like, like me eating it. I would not have. Look, it wouldn't have been fluid. It wouldn't have been, oh, interesting. It just looks so natural the way this man was eating it. And then at the same time, you could see him being like, nourished by it. It was just cool. It drove home to me, like, just how big a deal rice and beans are to a lot of the cultures where they are a big deal. It was neat.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, that's cool. I love that. Yeah, I know what you mean, though. Not even with rice and beans, but when you see someone from the culture eating the thing that kind of defines and sustains their culture. Yeah, it's different. The way it goes down and the way it looks. Yeah, it's like me and fried chicken.

[Josh Clark]

Right. I'm trying to think of what I eat. Like that. Maybe a donut.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, maybe someone from another country telling a story about visiting America and seeing this guy eat fried chicken and his friend was eating donuts and it was hysterical.

[Josh Clark]

Nourished. Yeah, you can be nourished by beans, though. Rice is fine, depending on the kind of rice. Like, the problem with white rice is it has a high glycemic index, which I'm sure we talked about in the rice episode. But that basically means it jacks your insulin up while you're digesting it. What's cool is that when you eat beans with white rice, the beans have such a low glycemic index that it washes out a lot of the white rice's glycemic. Index removes it. So that's pretty cool. And then beans, of course, are just on their own, nutritious. One of the big things is that they have lots of fiber.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

Which is the component of beans that make them the magical fruit.

[Chuck Bryant]

I thought it was.

[Josh Clark]

Apparently you get more than half of your daily fiber from one cup of pinto beans.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. That's a lot. They lower your LDL cholesterol, which is the bad cholesterol. They're gonna improve your gut health if you have a risk of. Well, I guess everyone has some risk of colorectal cancer.

[Josh Clark]

It's getting worse too.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. It's gonna decrease that risk. And what else? There's something about the. Like, it fills you up, right?

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. You are satiated by two different hormones that are triggered by eating beans, which is cool. And you basically digest your food a little slower, so you feel fuller, longer.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. Like last night.

[Josh Clark]

These really are magical.

[Chuck Bryant]

Not in prep for this. Cause I didn't even bother making beans. We just been traveling a lot. We have no food here, and I didn't know what to eat, and I didn't feel like ordering delivery food because I hate doing that. So I opened up a can of refried black beans, and I just cooked those and put some spices in them and threw some cheese on top and ate a bowl of refried beans.

[Josh Clark]

Nice.

[Chuck Bryant]

It was delicious. I farted all night long.

[Josh Clark]

That's awesome.

[Troy Millings]

It was great.

[Josh Clark]

Yumi eats refried beans a surprising amount, and she does not fart.

[Chuck Bryant]

Well, that's. Cause Yumi is perfect and I'm not.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, dude, I'm right there with you. Like, I've been holding it in from lunch the whole time we've been recording.

[Chuck Bryant]

She's a real lady.

[Josh Clark]

That's right. You got anything else about beans, Rice? Rice and beans.

[Chuck Bryant]

Nothing else. I think I'm gonna go on a rice and beans te. How about this, though? I would love if people know a great recipe for that traditional Mexican rice. Send it in.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, good idea. It is so good. I swear to God. There's lard in it.

[Chuck Bryant]

Probably so. And it takes some time, you know, it's not the kind of thing you can just whip up in a second.

[Josh Clark]

Okay, sure.

[Chuck Bryant]

That's the one I'm hoping.

[Josh Clark]

Depends. If you're a Cuban taxi driver in New York, I'll bet you could whip it up in a second.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, for sure.

[Josh Clark]

This is a weird episode, Chuck.

[Chuck Bryant]

All right, I'll take that.

[Josh Clark]

All right, well, since Chuck's taken weird, that means he just unlocked a list of your Mail.

[Chuck Bryant]

This was from our episode on postpartum depression that just came out in real time. Hey guys, I just listened to your PPD EP was inspired to write in. I want to thank you for shining a light on this extremely difficult subject, specifically the parts in which you acknowledge the uncomfortable, intrusive thoughts that some moms might experience. I'm a first time mom of a 4 month old and have been diagnosed with PPD and I'm getting all the treatments you outlined in your episode, but it's still a lonely journey. And your episode is a very succinct, accessible way to inform people that support me in my life about what I'm experiencing. So as a woman, I'm always second guessing my feelings, even when it comes to my PPD symptoms. But the stats that you shared in the episode remind me that this is very real and I'm not just being dramatic. So as two CIS men, you did a great job and keep doing good work. And that is Rachel from Portland, Oregon.

[Josh Clark]

Nice. Thank you very much Rachel for writing in to tell us that. Because that's exactly why we did that episode, you know.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. And we're, you know, you're in our thoughts. I know that's a very lonely place to be.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. Well said, Chuck. Hopefully listening to that episode made people who are going through PPD

[Production/Announcer]

Stuff youf Should Know is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts My Heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app. Apple Podcasts are wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

[Troy Millings]

This is Troy Millings from Earn your Leisure. When you think about discovering small brands, what store pops in your mind? Well, it should be Walmart. Seriously, Walmart has thousands of small brands and they're all in one place. Just go online or in store, discover and shop. It could not be easier. Every one of these brands has a real story and real people behind it. They're true American success stories and you can find them all at Walmart. Discover thousands of small [e-mail] today.

[Production/Announcer]

Hey Portlandia fans, Kerry Brownstein and Fred Armisen here.

[Fred Armisen]

The dream of the 90s is alive in podcast form.

[Production/Announcer]

We're launching Podlandia AO Rewatch our brand new podcast where we revisit every episode of Portlandia together. Breaking down sketches, going deep on our iconic characters and pulling back the curtain on how it all got made.

[Fred Armisen]

And we'll also be joined by the people who helped bring it all to life, guest stars, collaborators and friends, including director Jonathan Krisel, the mayor himself, Kyle McLaughlin, legendary musician Amy Mann, and many more.

[Production/Announcer]

Kyle is going for it. Here you've got fully improvised, not just words but a song about.

[Chuck Bryant]

Well, I thought you were all going to write a song.

[Production/Announcer]

I remember you thinking that. Listen to Podlandia Aao rewatch on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Ari Chambers]

What's up, fam? I'm sports journalist Ari Chambers.

[Sam J]

Hey, what's up, y'? All? It's your girl, Sam J.

[Ari Chambers]

And we're the host of Everyone Watches Women's Sports, a new podcast from together and I heart women's sports.

[Sam J]

We're breaking down the biggest headlines.

[Ari Chambers]

Naomi Osaka showing out shout outs to you, Naomi. The viral moments.

[Sam J]

I've been obsessed with Chrisean Rock's boxing journey.

[Chuck Bryant]

She looks good.

[Sam J]

Her combos are swift and the stories

[Ari Chambers]

everyone's talking about across women's sports because

[Sam J]

everyone watches women's sports. Listen to everyone watches women's sports on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.

[Josh Clark]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Chuck Bryant]

Guaranteed Human.