A good place to start might be to look at the huge number of ethnic dishes built around beans. People around the world have been inventive in this regard for centuries.

For the North American diet, it would help if fast food offered more bean options. There’s Taco Bell and the like, I guess. And hummus and falafel are working their way into places that sell wraps. But while burger joints are increasingly offering veggie burgers that are presumably using some kind of bean or pea-based protein, I wonder why they don’t try offering a chili? We have a chilli festival where I live and it’s hugely popular with around half the recipes being bean-based.