They've got fiber. They're cheap. They're … cool? Behind the 'renaissance' of beans

Grocery prices got you down? Learn how to cut your food bill with NPR's 4-part newsletter. Sign up here for budgeting tips, meal planning and more. A hill of beans isn't so trivial anymore. In fact, it sounds pretty good. Interest is surging in the tiny, bulbous legumes sometimes met with a shrug, as more Americans increasingly seek out cheap, healthy and inventive food. Bean-centric recipes are abundant on social media — yep, there are bean-fluencers on BeanTok . Consumers can now buy trendier bean-based products, and one heirloom-bean service is so popular that it has a waitlist of tens of thousands of people. (Some bean lovers have taken to referring to themselves as the "leguminati.") The children's show Bluey is even being used to market beans to kids . "There definitely is a renaissance," said Tim McGreevy, CEO of USA Pulses, the trade group for the pulse crop industry, which includes dry beans, lentils, chickpeas and dry peas. "Beans can help you feel good. That's their power." Of course, there's nothing new about Phaseolus vulgaris and other members of the legume family. The primitive crops were critical to early agriculture and, in more recent times, have been a cheaper alternative to animal proteins. Legumes have long been a central feature of many cuisines, from dal in India and other South Asian countries to the beans-and-rice dishes common across Latin America and beyond. …