IYOP2016

In our work at Hodmedod we celebrate and enjoy pulses every day of the year, but World Pulses Day is an opportunity to step back and consider the wider picture. Pulses really can play a crucial role in mitigating the global challenges of poverty, food security and nutrition, human health, and soil health.

Every year on 5th December, World Soil Day celebrates the importance of soil in the natural world and in sustaining human wellbeing. In 2016, the UN International Year of Pulses, the day's theme is the relationship between soil and pulses. Pulses depend on soil to grow but also contribute to the health and vitality of soil, helping it to sustain life.

BBC Radio 4's Food Programme investigates pulses from Britain and further afield to mark the UN International Year of Pulses. Hodmedod's Nick Saltmarsh joined Sheila Dillon, Jenny Chandler and Sanjay Kumar in discussion at the BBC's Bristol studios.

Religion, folklore and now Facebook encourage us to give things up for Lent. And if you’ve got a meat-, alcohol-, chocolate- or sugar-shaped hole in your life for the next few weeks, there are centuries of history behind the foodstuff you could fill it with: carlin peas

Feasting on pulses is something the Hodmedod team are happy to do any day of the week but on January 6th we had two extra reasons to celebrate. As well as an almost belated Christmas lunch, January 6th marked the launch of the UN’s International Year of Pulses with hundreds of people across the world celebrating with a pulse feast.

The United Nations has declared 2016 as the International Year of Pulses, with the aim of raising awareness of the many benefits of pulses and building their position as a primary source of protein and other essential nutrients.