So for his latest book, The Blue Zones American Kitchen, Buettner wanted to celebrate the ingenuity of Indigenous people, highlighting their rich cultures and time-tested, plant-based recipes. Below, he shares some of their healthiest food staples: But the real kicker? They’re versatile—you can add beans to pretty much any tasty recipe. “Americans don’t know how to make beans taste good,” Buettner jokes, since other regions of the world (namely, Blue Zones) prepare beans in such delicious, creative ways. “[Beans] are in every one of these cultures, and in many cases, there are 400 years of trial and error to learn how to make these beans taste delicious,” he adds. Consider whipping up a pot of hearty minestrone soup, à la Buettner. It’s fluffy, clean, and sweet—and according to Buettner, it’s a little bit healthier than regular rice. “It’s got the whole germ in the middle,” he says, whereas traditionally that germ gets removed during the milling process. He recommends purchasing Carolina gold rice from Anson Mills (you can order it online), which also features some tasty recipes on their website. Again, you can snag these seeds from Anson Mills—they also have an heirloom bennecake flour option! You can cook bitter melon in many ways, but according to Buettner, “they scrape out the middle and make a delightful beverage out of it.” As its name suggests, the drink tastes pretty bitter. “But in the same way people often don’t like beer the first time they taste it, but then they really like it, bitter melon is the same way,” he adds.
