I just got back from Bean Day with Northarvest. What is Bean Day, you ask? Well, National Bean Day is on January 6th every year, but this is a different bean day. Every January, Northarvest hosts Bean Day, a fantastic celebration of beans and bean research that is held in Fargo, North Dakota.
I was honored to be a speaker at the event this year. It was a great day (obviously it was great – how could it not be when it is about beans?)! I wanted to give you a quick sneak peek into what happens at bean conferences.
Bean Day Swag
First of all, as you may imagine, there is awesome bean swag. From bean stickers to bean recipes to great, nerdy bean information, there was no shortage of bean-themed goodness.
Bean Day Food
Plus, someone had these bean cookies made. I was impressed by all of them, but especially the pinto bean cookies! Bravo to the cookie artist that managed to get the pinto coloration and mottling.
Of course, we have beans for lunch. There were three different kinds included in lunch – baked beans and a fresh, two-bean salad with black beans and black-eyed peas. Yum!
And trust me, bean people know how to party! We live life on the edge, as you can see in this game of Jelly Bean Roulette.
Thank You for Hosting Bean Day, Northarvest!
I want to give a huge shout-out to everyone who made this event possible! I know a lot of work and planning went into this, and it showed in how smooth, fun, and interesting the event was. There was great information shared all day long from numerous bean growers, processors, and researchers.
Also, thank you for making my dream come true and surprising me with a bean award after my presentation!
Northarvest Bean Day Presentation
Want to watch my presentation? Northarvest posted in on their YouTube channel – here you are! You can also find the other Bean Day presentations on their channel.
More Fun Bean-y Things
In addition to research, Northarvest has also created several fun and creative bean outreach resources. Check these out!
While chatting with bean colleagues at Bean Day, someone mentioned how delicious kidney bean brownies are. Of course, I was intrigued! I normally use black beans for brownies and couldn’t wait to try this. Spoiler alert: absolutely delicious! Check out the recipe for Killer Kidney Bean Brownies here.
