Rice and beans (called arroz y habas, arroz con habichuelas, arroz con frijoles or similar in Spanish, arroz e feijão or feijão com arroz, in Portuguese, diri ak pwa in Haitian Creole, Avas kon arroz or Avikas kon arroz in Judaeo-Spanish etc.) is a very popular dish in Latin America, the Caribbean, and in communities of Latino, Caribbean or Sephardic people elsewhere. Given the basic nature of its ingredients and wide availability, rice and bean dishes are a staple food in many regions of the world.
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The dish usually consists of white rice accompanied by brown, red or black, dry beans (typically Phaseolus vulgaris or Vigna unguiculata) and seasoned in various ways. Different regions have different preferences. In Brazil, for example, black beans are more popular in Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, while in most other parts of the country these are mostly only used in feijoadas. The New Orleans specialty known as "red beans and rice" is often accompanied by a side of smoked sausage or a fried pork chop.
In many areas, rice and beans are often served side by side rather than mixed. Either way, they may be considered a meal, frequently with a topping of meat or chicken. Meat or other ingredients are sometimes placed atop rice and beans or (less often) mixed into it.[1]
While beans are native to the Americas, rice is not. Rice was introduced to the Caribbean and South America by European colonizers at an early date with Spanish colonizers introducing Asian rice to Mexico in the 1520s at Veracruz and the Portuguese and their African slaves introducing it at about the same time to Colonial Brazil.[2] More recent scholarship suggests that African slaves played a more active role in the establishment of rice in the New World and that African rice was an important crop from an early period.[3] In either case, varieties of rice and bean dishes were a staple dish among the peoples of West Africa, and they remained a staple among their descendants subjected to slavery in the Spanish New World colonies and elsewhere in the Americas.[4]
The dish is very nutritious. Rice is rich in starch, an excellent source of energy. Rice also has iron, vitamin B and protein. Beans also contain a good amount of iron and an even greater amount of protein than rice. Most significantly, the consumption of the two in tandem provides all the essential amino acids. One authority writes:
"Rice and beans are an inseparable pair of staple foods for millions of Latin Americans, parts of Central America, the Caribbean, and the Andean Mountain zone. Whether consumed separately or together, these crops figure importantly in the human diet and in national economies across the entire region, and trends in their production are a matter of immediate relevance to practically all of its inhabitants."[5]
In addition, rice and beans are common and affordable ingredients, often available even when times are hard. A Nicaraguan explained life after Hurricane Mitch by saying:
"For breakfast, we have beans and rice. For lunch, we have rice and beans. For supper, we have rice and beans mixed together."[6]
In Brazil, rice and beans are commonly eaten as everyday lunch, along with a different variety of meats and vegetables. It is also common to prepare dinner using the lunch leftovers. Brazil is the world leader in dry beans production and Latin American leader in rice consumption.
In discussing Puerto Rican cuisine, food critic Susan Fairbank wrote:
Rice and beans are sacred .... They are our "daily bread," our comfort food. When you mess with someone's rice & beans, you mess with their mind. Rice & beans are soul food [...] I ordered Arroz con habichuelas and when they arrived, I poured the entire bowl of beans over the plate of rice and mixed them thoroughly to absorb the gravy. I mention mixing because rice & beans are eaten together in the same bite and not, as I saw the uninitiated do, eaten separately in isolated mouthfuls. It's a synergistic dish and makes a deliciously healthy block of complete protein when combined together.[7]
Today, the term "rice and beans" is used as a metonym for basic needs of food and phrases such as "the poor can't afford their rice and beans" are frequent. It is also used more generally for anything that is basic, fundamental, or simple in phrases like "just do the rice and beans and you'll succeed". The term is also used to describe any pairing that works together well, such as "they're like rice and beans".
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