Me mum is part Chinese.  I grew up to the Chinese food that she grew up to, from pastries to noodle bowls to spring rolls.  Sometimes I forget that not everyone is familiar with Chinese cuisine and I expect them to know what I am gnawing on.

One of them is roasted fava beans.  I have always known them simply as pop beans, it never occurred to me to ask about what kind of beans they are until a friend saw me with a bag and asked.  I know they are broad beans but that is as far as my knowledge goes.  I looked it up and I could not decide if they are roasted lima beans or fava beans.  At first, I thought they were lima beans because they have their own shells with the whole pods.  Both as vegetables look similar to snap beans.  As I looked further, I came across a post on it with a photo of the same exact bag of pop beans that I grew up to.  It was captioned ‘fava beans’.  Fava beans are commonly known as broad beans in some areas.

The health buff that my mate is, he wanted to know if it is a healthy snack to nibble on while at work.  Like most nuts, it is good brain food, high in dopamine, protein and fibre.  It is known to be an alternative supplement for Parkinson’s disease and nature’s Viagra.  So eat up, boys!