How to Cook and Eat Beans Like an Italian

Cheap, nutritious, and delicious, the humble legumes have long been foundational to Tuscan cooking

Beans feature in many traditional recipes of Tuscany's cucina povera. Simmer them slowly with tomato paste to make this fagioli all’uccelletto, bulked up with fresh sausage. Giulia Scarpaleggia

For Tuscans, beans are a source of pride and identity. The legumes are so intertwined with the region’s food culture and traditions that Florentines are known as “mangiafagioli,” or “bean eaters.”

Beans are one the most representative ingredients of Tuscan cucina povera, the inventive, honest peasant cooking capable of transforming a few, poor ingredients into nutritious and filling dishes.