Fork U with Dr. Terry Simpson

For years, beans have suffered from an image problem.
They've been called "the poor man's meat," joked about for causing gas, and often relegated to the side of the plate. Yet for thousands of years, beans, lentils, chickpeas, and peas—collectively known as pulses—were among the most important foods on Earth.
If bread supplied the calories that built cities, beans supplied much of the protein that sustained them.
Long before protein powders and high-protein snack bars, civilizations from Rome to India relied on pulses as an everyday source of nourishment. The Roman laborer's bowl of puls—a hearty porridge often enriched with legumes—was far more representative of daily life than the lavish banquets of emperors. Across the Mediterranean, dishes like pasta e fagioli reflected a simple truth: grains and legumes together formed a remarkably nutritious meal.
Modern science has largely caught up with what history already knew.
Beans are rich in protein, but they're also packed with dietary fiber, resistant starch, folate, magnesium, potassium, and a remarkable collection of plant compounds that support both heart and metabolic health. Their fiber nourishes the trillions of bacteria living in our colon, producing short-chain fatty acids that help maintain the health of the intestinal lining and may reduce inflammation throughout the body.
Perhaps most remarkable is that cultures around the world independently discovered the same dietary pattern. Italy has beans and pasta. India has dal with flatbread. Latin America combines beans with rice or corn. The Middle East gave us hummus. These weren't accidents. They were elegant nutritional solutions developed centuries before anyone knew what an amino acid was.
Beans also improve the soil they grow in. Through a partnership with nitrogen-fixing bacteria living on their roots, legumes enrich the earth for future crops. Few foods nourish both the people who eat them and the land that produces them.
Today, beans are enjoying a well-deserved renaissance. Heritage producers such as Rancho Gordo have reminded us that beans have flavor, texture, and personality. They're no longer just pantry staples—they're ingredients worthy of the center of the plate.
In this week's Fork U podcast, we'll explore how one humble family of plants helped build civilizations, why modern nutrition keeps rediscovering their value, and why the "poor man's meat" may actually be one of the richest foods in human history.
Sometimes the greatest superfoods aren't new discoveries.
Sometimes they've been quietly simmering in the pot all along.

Olive Oil: The Original Superfood

Before electricity lit our homes, olive oil did.
For thousands of years, olive oil was far more than something people poured over bread. It fueled lamps, preserved food, moisturized skin, and was used in religious ceremonies. Long before it became a staple of the Mediterranean diet, it helped build civilization.
Today, we think of olive oil as healthy. The fascinating part is that people believed it was medicinal long before they understood cholesterol, inflammation, or blood pressure. Sometimes medicine begins with observation. The science simply catches up later.

More Than Just Fat
When people hear "olive oil," they often think of fat. That's true, but not all fats behave the same way.
Olive oil is rich in monounsaturated fat, the primary fat found in the Mediterranean diet. Rather than worrying about the chemistry, it is more useful to think about what happens inside the body.
The real benefit comes from what olive oil replaces.
Instead of cooking with butter or shortening, people sauté vegetables with olive oil. Olive oil is better than creamy dressings, and it is part of a delicious vinaigrette. And my favorite is, instead of spreading butter on bread, dipping it in olive oil.
Those small substitutions can add up over time.

The Science Is Impressive
One of the first studies to grab the attention of cardiologists came from Lyon, France. Researchers enrolled people who had already suffered a heart attack and asked one group to adopt a Mediterranean-style diet rich in olive oil.
The results surprised almost everyone.
Those following the Mediterranean diet had dramatically fewer second heart attacks than those eating their usual diet. It was one of the studies that helped transform olive oil from a traditional food into a modern medical recommendation.
Since then, researchers have followed hundreds of thousands of people around the world. Again and again, the same pattern appears. People who regularly consume olive oil tend to have lower rates of heart disease, lower rates of type 2 diabetes, and even lower mortality.
Even better, randomized clinical trials such as the PREDIMED study showed that people at high cardiovascular risk reduced their chances of major cardiovascular events by following a Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil.

Why Does It Work?
Scientists think olive oil helps in several ways.
When olive oil replaces butter and other saturated fats, LDL cholesterol usually falls. The natural polyphenols found in extra-virgin olive oil also appear to reduce inflammation and help blood vessels relax by improving nitric oxide production. In addition, studies suggest olive oil improves insulin sensitivity and helps protect LDL cholesterol from becoming oxidized, an important step in the formation of artery plaque.
No single mechanism explains everything.
Instead, several small benefits appear to work together.
That is often how nutrition works.

Not All Olive Oils Are the Same
If you ask people where the best olive oil comes from, be prepared for a lively discussion.
Some prefer the buttery oils from Liguria in Italy. Others enjoy the peppery oils of Lebanon, Greece, or Spain. I have favorites from Arizona, where I lived for years, and from California, where I live now.
California also has some of the highest purity standards for olive oil in the world. While olive oil fraud has occurred in some parts of the world, California producers have built a reputation for careful quality control. That gives me confidence in what I'm pouring into my pan.

A Small Change Worth Making
Nutrition rarely comes down to one magical food.
Instead, it comes from making better choices more often.
Adding olive oil to your kitchen is one of those simple changes that is easy to enjoy. It makes vegetables taste better, encourages home cooking, and replaces less healthy fats without making meals feel restrictive.
Sometimes the healthiest habits are also the most delicious.
Olive oil first transformed civilization by lighting the night.
Today, it may help illuminate a healthier future—one meal at a time.

Cheese: Humanity's Greatest Delicious Accident
What if one of the world's favorite foods happened by accident?
That's probably how cheese began.
Nobody knows exactly who made the first cheese. Maybe it was a shepherd carrying milk in a bag made from a sheep's stomach. The milk warmed in the sun, natural rennet in the stomach lining began to separate the curds from the whey, and suddenly milk had become something entirely different.
Instead of throwing it away, someone tasted it.
Transforming Cheese
Cheese is another example of one of humanity's greatest skills: transforming food. We didn't simply discover food—we learned how to make it safer, preserve it longer, and often make it taste even better.
Then, over thousands of years, every culture added its own touch.
The English gave us Cheddar. The French perfected Brie and Roquefort. Italy created Parmigiano Reggiano. Greece gave us Feta. Norway even created brown cheese by slowly caramelizing whey into a sweet, nutty delight.
Each cheese tells the story of the people who made it.
Then there's the science.
For years, cheese was criticized because it contains saturated fat. However, modern nutrition research has taught us that cheese is far more complicated than a single nutrient. Cheese contains protein, calcium, beneficial bacteria from fermentation, and a unique food structure that scientists now call the dairy matrix. Interestingly, studies have found that eating cheese is generally neutral—and in many cases modestly protective—when it comes to heart disease.
One of my favorite ironies involves Parmesan.
People often warn about MSG while happily grating Parmesan over their pasta. Yet Parmesan is naturally rich in free glutamate, the compound responsible for the delicious savory flavor we call umami. Nature discovered that trick long before chemistry gave it a name.
Like bread, soup, and cooking itself, cheese reminds us that humans became successful because we learned to transform food instead of wasting it.
The next time you enjoy a piece of good cheese, remember you're tasting one of humanity's oldest scientific experiments.
This week on FORK U, we'll explore the fascinating history of cheese, how it shaped civilization, why it's healthier than many people think, and why your charcuterie board has a much longer history than Instagram.
And on my Substack later this week, we'll dive even deeper into the science behind cheese, fermentation, heart health, the Mediterranean diet, and why nutrition is always more interesting than social media makes it seem.

For years, bread has been the villain of social media.
Scroll for a few minutes, and you'll find someone telling you bread causes obesity, diabetes, inflammation, or that humans were never meant to eat it.
History tells a different story.
Bread didn't weaken civilization.
Bread helped build it.

From Grass to Greatness
Imagine the first person who looked at wild grass and wondered whether those tiny seeds could become food.
Nobody knows exactly how bread was invented. Maybe someone mixed crushed grain with water and left it in the sun. Maybe wild yeast landed in the mixture, and it began to bubble. Maybe someone cooked it on a hot rock beside a fire.
Whatever happened, one thing is certain.
Someone noticed something new and tried it again.
That's how science often begins—with curiosity.

Bread Changed Everything
Once people learned how to make bread, life changed.
Grain could be stored for months. Families no longer had to search for food every day. Villages grew into towns, and towns became cities.
Soon, people could become bakers, builders, teachers, physicians, and merchants because someone else was growing wheat.
Bread didn't just feed people.
It helped create civilization.

Bread Fed Empires
The ancient Egyptians depended on bread. Grain storage helped feed the workers who built the pyramids. The Romans knew that keeping bread available helped keep peace in the city. Even today, archaeologists find bakeries and loaves of bread preserved in Pompeii.
Later, during the Klondike Gold Rush, my grandfather carried a sourdough starter into Alaska. Thousands of prospectors did the same. That's why experienced miners became known as "Sourdoughs."
Bread traveled wherever people went.

Then Bread Changed
Over time, bread changed.
Factories made bread softer, whiter, and able to last longer on grocery store shelves. It became convenient, but much of what made bread special disappeared.
Then, during the 1960s and 1970s, people began baking bread at home again. Books like The Tassajara Bread Book encouraged Americans to rediscover whole grains, sourdough, and fresh bread.
Sometimes progress means remembering what we forgot.

What Does the Science Say?
Not all bread is the same.
Whole-grain bread contains fiber, vitamins, minerals, and plant compounds that refined white bread often lacks.
Study after study has found that people who eat more whole grains tend to have lower rates of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and colorectal cancer. That's one reason whole grains remain an important part of the Mediterranean diet.
The question isn't whether bread is healthy.
The question is:
Which bread?

Keep It Simple
One of the simplest meals is still one of the best.
Take a slice of whole-grain bread, add good extra-virgin olive oil, and enjoy it with a bowl of soup or a Mediterranean meal. It doesn't need to be complicated.
Some foods have survived for thousands of years for a reason.
Bread is one of them.
This week in my Substack, I dive much deeper into the history of bread, how it helped build civilization, why whole grains continue to be recommended by nutrition research, and why bread has become one of the most misunderstood foods on social media.
You can read the full article on drsimpson.com, and if you're looking for Mediterranean recipes—including homemade bread, soups, and healthy meals—you'll find them at terrysimpson.com.

Soup: The Mediterranean Diet in a Bowl
Over the past few weeks, many of us have been looking at our refrigerators a little differently. News about Cyclospora, E. coli, and other foodborne outbreaks has made people nervous about fresh vegetables and herbs. At the same time, grocery stores are filled with expensive electrolyte drinks, protein broths, and wellness beverages promising to keep us healthy. However, there is a much simpler solution that has been around for thousands of years.

Make soup.
It may sound almost too simple, but soup remains one of the healthiest meals we can prepare. In fact, if someone asked me to build the perfect meal using what we know today about nutrition, I'd probably start with a pot of soup. Add onions, garlic, beans, tomatoes, leafy greens, herbs, perhaps a little chicken or fish, a drizzle of olive oil, and serve it with a slice of whole-grain sourdough. You've just created what I like to call the Mediterranean diet in a bowl. And to prove you can do that from any cuisine, my favorite soup is Dahl - and click here for the recipe.

The First Food Safety
More importantly, soup has always been much more than comfort food. Throughout history, people discovered that boiling food made it easier to digest and often safer to eat, even though they had no idea bacteria or parasites existed. Today, we know that proper cooking destroys organisms such as Cyclospora and many harmful bacteria, making soup not only delicious but also one of humanity's oldest food safety techniques.
Furthermore, soup is one of the best ways to reduce food waste. We all have that refrigerator drawer that starts out as a crisper and eventually becomes what I call the "future soup drawer." A few carrots, some celery that's lost its crunch, half an onion, spinach that's beginning to wilt, or herbs that are no longer picture-perfect can all become tomorrow's lunch instead of tomorrow's compost. Rather than throwing them away, let them contribute their flavors to a pot of soup.
Another reason I love soup is that it naturally brings together many of the foods we should be eating more often. Beans provide fiber and plant protein. Vegetables add vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals. Herbs contribute remarkable flavors without relying on excess salt. A little olive oil adds healthy fats, while broth provides hydration along with naturally occurring electrolytes. Unlike many products marketed as "wellness foods," soup doesn't need fancy packaging or celebrity endorsements. It has been quietly doing its job for thousands of years.

Better with Age - like me
Then there's one final reason soup deserves a place in every kitchen.
It gets better.
Few foods improve overnight the way soup does. The flavors continue to develop, the broth becomes richer, and somehow the entire pot tastes more complete the next day. That's one reason soup has always been one of the original meal-prep foods. Long before social media was teaching us how to prepare lunches for the week, families simply made one large pot of soup and enjoyed it for several meals.
Of course, every family develops its own favorites. In our house, taco soup is always a winner. It starts with onions, garlic, olive oil, canned beans, tomatoes, cumin, coriander, and chili spices before being finished with fresh lemon juice, avocado, and crushed whole-grain tortilla chips. It's hearty, inexpensive, packed with fiber, and it disappears quickly whenever I make it.
Perhaps that's why every civilization eventually invented soup. It stretches ingredients, reduces waste, nourishes families, hydrates naturally, and transforms simple foods into something extraordinary. Sometimes the oldest ideas remain the smartest ones.
This week on Fork U, we're diving into the remarkable history and science of soup, including why every civilization created its own version, why soup may be the Mediterranean diet in a bowl, why it often tastes better the next day, and even why a proper French consommé is one of the greatest achievements in culinary science.
For the full story, listen to this week's episode of Fork U at drsimpson.com.
And if you'd like some of my favorite soup recipes—including taco soup, Mediterranean-inspired soups, and other healthy meals—you'll find them at terrysimpson.com.