5 Days of Pulses

The Cafe gave us a lesson in sustainable healthy eating earlier this month. From January 29 to February 2, they ran a special event called “Five Days of Pulses.”

Pulses are the dried edible seeds or vegetables in the legume family. You’d most likely recognize them in the form of chickpeas, beans, lentils, and dried peas — all of which are grown in Canada!

Pulses are a great healthy meal choice, being high in protein and fibre while staying very low in fat. They are also linked to reduced risk factors for diabetes and heart disease.

In addition to being good for your health, they are good for the planet as well. As a high protein meat alternative, their production uses significantly less water than meat production, and emits lower rates of greenhouse gases. They also replenish the levels of nitrogen in the soil, meaning they reduce the need for artificial fertilizers and increase the sustainability of farming.

Clearly, there are a lot of reasons to start incorporating pulses into our diets, and the Cafe was happy to show us how!

Every day, they featured a different meal made with pulses, such as lentil pesto pasta or mixed pulse taco. The diverse meal plan showed off the potential variety available when you cook with pulses. They gave samples of different pulses to encourage students to give them a try.

The Cafe also ran a “Guess the Pulse” content. There were 5 jars full of different types of pulses set up in the Lodge. Students tried to name all 5, and entered their guesses to win meal vouchers.

To really show what pulses can do, the Cafe handed out chocolate chip cookies with one secret ingredient: lentils! Students and staff couldn’t taste the difference between a regular cookie and the protein-packed lentil variety. Students were given copies of the recipe to bake at home.