[Sca-cooks] More about fava beans ...

[Christiane]

It occurred to me that if this disease exists in regions where eating fava beans is prevalent, why the heck would people eat them at all?

I found out some interesting things.

Essentially, the regions where the genetic defect exists are malaria-prone, and having this defect makes you less tasty to malaria parasites (there being less oxygen in your blood). Fava beans have compounds in them similar to those of quinines (folks with favism have the same reactions to these drugs), and in folks without the defect, favas work to lower blood oxygen levels and offer malaria protection. Those who are passive carriers of the gene but do not suffer from favism get even more protection from eating fava beans.

It's a fairly rare genetic defect in the United States, but I would let folks know about favism if you're going to be serving fava beans at a feast, as a caution to those whose ancestry makes them Southern Meditteranean. I don't know if the compounds that trigger favism are entirely destroyed in the cooking process.

Gianotta