I WAS SITTING next to a small, bubbling fountain in southern Costa Rica eating a fried egg with rice and beans for breakfast when the differences of cultural expression of this simple yet complex dish hit me.

Through my travels in Latin America and the Caribbean, I began to become enthralled with rice and beans. This humble dish provides nutrition and comfort in so many cultures yet it varies greatly depending on where you are.
It continues to surprise me how few of these cultural nuances are present on menus in the area, but they offer many opportunities of culinary exploration, no matter the level of cook.

I spoke with chefs about their memories, and their stories of rice and beans were not only eye-opening and informative, but fueled my curiosity as a chef even more.

Rice and beans provide a wide array of nutritional value: When consumed together, they create a complete protein containing all nine essential amino acids.

Their ability to grow across the globe makes these two items easy to obtain and cost-effective. In South and Central America and the Caribbean, rice and beans are a staple as much as meat and potatoes are considered a staple in the Midwest.

Beans are often found cooking in many home kitchens, sometimes nonstop as in Chef George Castaneda’s childhood home in El Salvador.

“They were always cooking. When they started to ferment a bit, my mom would add baking soda. We didn’t have refrigeration and I’m not sure how we didn’t get sick,” he said with a chuckle.

Chef Castaneda frequently travels throughout South and Central America working with various clients as a training consultant and loves to see cooks’ flexibility with beans and rice.

“On the streets of El Salvador tiny red beans are cooked and puréed. They are then worked into a filling for an empanada made with plantains. People use what’s around them. It’s a simple dish but so good.”

Growing up on the small island of Caye Caulker in Belize, Chef Marielos Chan, sous-chef for culinary operations at Schoolcraft College, recalls sitting down with her family every Sunday “no matter how busy” they are for stew chicken with rice and beans.

“It’s such a humble dish that can be elevated. We served it to the president of the college and he loved the flavors.”

“It’s commonly served with potato salad and onion sauce [white onions and habanero peppers mixed with vinegar]. I’m not sure how Belizeans never get tired of the dish,” she added with a smile.

Teaching at Dorsey College Culinary, Chef Daniel Martinez has had the opportunity to expand on his childhood upbringing and explore the depth of food in Mexico and Colombia. “I remember my dad bringing home an entire pig, and my brothers and I would help him butcher it. We would all eat rice and beans with the pig cooked in a variety of ways but always with rice and beans.”

Chef Martinez’s grandmother’s caretaker from Mexico moved in after his grandmother’s passing, and “she was always cooking beans. It didn’t matter what type. There were always beans cooking.” I could hear the smile through the phone as he recalled this story.

These chefs have excelled in their careers and continue to make an impact in our industry, but their roots are firmly planted in family memories surrounding rice and beans.

While bringing comfort to a meal, the differences I discovered in rice and beans is vast. In many places, rice is served alongside beans and not together.

“We have a term casamiento, meaning marriage. This is when the beans and rice are mixed. You would find it during special events in El Salvador,” Castaneda said. Often the beans are served “dinner style,” which is more souplike and rice is added.

During these conversations, dishes found in the American South came to mind. Southern red beans and rice, gumbo and other Southern classics are clearly influenced by the cultures in this region.

“We use a lot of coconut in Belize,” Chan said. “That’s where the love in the cooking is felt. We don’t open a can of coconut milk in Belize. You must find the right coconut, open it, grate it and extract the milk. This, along with coconut oil, is the primary thing that makes our rice and beans different.”

In warmer climates, onions are used fresh and not cured as commonly found in the Midwest. “We would flavor our beans with the green of the onion and some garlic. If we were lucky, we would add some pork or other meat for flavor. It was all about what we had around us,” Castaneda said.

His family didn’t use cumin. “It wasn’t until I began cooking professionally when people told me Mexican food contains a lot of cumin. It just wasn’t used when I was growing up. My dad’s Colombian side of the family commonly served yellow rice, pilaf-style colored with annatto. It was different than the Mexican side of my family,” Martinez told me.

In Jamaica and other Caribbean countries, you will find more spices such as pimento (allspice), thyme, garlic and green onions flavoring rice and beans (called “rice and peas” in Jamaica). Often coconut milk is added to the cooking liquid as well. Caribbean nations tend to use peppers as also to add subtle heat to the dish Cooked separately and then mixed together, rice and peas are served with jerk meats and curries throughout the Caribbean.

Through these conversations with chefs, their passion and excitement over this humble dish brought me joy. While chefs are out there winning gold medals, serving college presidents and teaching the future, each of them was more excited to talk about rice and beans. The humblest food often brings the most joy and flavor to a table.

Explore a new-to-you part of the world through their version of rice and beans. You may find a new family favorite that costs a little more than $5.

Jeremy Abbey, WCMC, CEC, CEPC, CCE, CCA, AAC is a lifelong chef and one of the founding directors of Detroit Institute of Gastronomy and Soil2Service.