World Pulses Day 2025 - Welcome to the Leguminati!

Happy World Pulses Day! 🫘🫛

World Pulses Day isn’t some fly-by-night corporate marketing campaign (looking at you National Pork Rind Day) - February 10th was designated by the United Nations as an ongoing annual celebration following the 2016 UN FAO International Year of Pulses.

It’s a day to really put pulses – beans, peas, lentils, chickpeas and more - in the spotlight. To share stories of their near-miraculous capacity to change food and farming systems for good, to raise awareness about the benefits they bring to soil, biodiversity, and human health. To show how they’re part of the answer to the huge challenges of climate change, hunger and malnutrition, and resilient farming systems.

It’s also an opportunity to just remind ourselves how delicious pulses are and the extraordinary diversity of recipes and cuisines that put them front and centre.

I know, I know, this is what we do EVERY DAY…

So we’re taking a slightly different approach today.

Each World Pulses Day has a theme, this year it’s ‘diversity in agrifood systems’, we’re going to use today to celebrate the businesses, farms, organisations and individuals who go the extra mile to get pulses onto plates and into farm systems.

Because there’s a whole ecosystem out there, people who really #LovePulses – the LEGUMINATI – as Rancho_Gordo calls us. (And to be fair there is a cult-y vibe to our evangelism for these incredible seeds.)

We’d like to introduce you to our friends, collaborators, inspirations - our heroes. Do give them a follow, look for the foods they sell, spread the word.

Pulse Pioneers

The theme for #WorldPulsesDay 2025 is ‘diversity in agrifood systems’, so we’re celebrating the businesses, farms, organisations and individuals who go the extra mile to get pulses onto plates and into farm systems.

Back when we started thinking about UK pulses in the mid 2000’s as part of a community project in Norwich looking at resilient diets and farm systems there were a few businesses that really inspired us.

Progressive wholefood wholesalers like Essential Trading, Suma Wholefoods and Infinity Foods who’d been extolling the virtues of pulses for decades and supplying thousands of independent retailers’ week-in week-out. When we founded Hodmedod they became out first customers too, along with the remarkable Unicorn Grocery.

There were also some wonderful businesses selling the best pulses direct to homes and kitchens, Brindisa had been bringing extraordinary Spanish pulses to the UK for decades and we were huge admirers Merchant Gourmet and the things they were doing with Puy lentils. Meanwhile Biona Organic and Mr Organic have long been flying the flag for carefully sourced organic pulses.

In the 13 years we’ve been trading we’ve loved collaborating with, learning from, supplying (and we hope occasionally inspiring) a whole new wave of pulse businesses. The likes of Brave Foods, Honest Bean Co, Bold Bean Co, Chicp, Gaia Pulses, Pulse Kitchen_ and Spice Box - all of whom have brought fresh ideas and new approaches.

We work with UK pulses, but globally we’re one among many businesses with the same pulse-purpose; it’s incredibly exciting to occasionally connect with these sisters and brothers in legumes. It’s hard to overstate our love for Rancho_Gordo and the way Steve has inspired us, or the camaraderie we share with Nordisk Ravara.

There’s only so much space, we’ve missed many great companies; do let us know your favourite pulse businesses on our Instagram post.

Pulse Heroes

So many incredible people have inspired and supported us as we’ve learned about pulses, created our business and – in turn – shared the good news. Some are no longer with us, like plant scientist Colin Leakey who introduced us to his UK adapted beans 20 years ago and chef Gary Rhodes who got us on TV for the first time back in 2012.

Others aren’t on Instagram, in particular Sandra Gawthroup who endlessly encourages us and founded a bean business called Phaseolus; or Claire Domoney of the John Innes Centre whose work on peas is second to none; or Roger Vickers, CEO of the pulse R&D group PGRO, who introduced us to a wider research community.

There have been dozens of fantastic chefs a food writers; through Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Tim_Maddams, Gelf Alderson, Rachel de Thample and Naomi Devlin, all of River Cottage, who really got what we were about early, as did the Queen of Pulses Jenny Chandler and restaurateur turned Instagram star Claire Thomson. Felicity Cloake cooked the perfect ful, Clare Hargreaves ate pulses seasonally, Susan Low, Dan Saladino and Sheila Dillon spread the word...

Carlin pea fan Thomasina Miers got UK pulses on the menu at Wahaca, bean boys Jamie Oliver and Jimmy Doherty got fava falafels on Channel4. The indefatigable Paul Newnham started a global pulse campaign while Chelsea Didinger travels the US in dressed in custom pulse merch encouraging all she meets to eat and grow more beans.

Then, of course, there are the amazing farmers who do the work of actually growing the pulses – we very well know how hard that can be - Mark Lea, Sam Parsons, John Turner, Andy Howard, (and many, many more).

I wish I hadn’t started this… sorry to the 100s of people I’ve missed. We're busy adding more in the comments on World Pulses Day pulse heroes Instagram post.

Pulse Campaigners

Hodmedod grew out of community project facilitated by an NGO called East Anglia Food Link. Nick, William and Josiah, Hodmedod’s founders, were (and are) activists & campaigners for a better, fairer food system. Below we’re celebrating some of the fantastic organisations advocating and agitating for pulses as part better diets and more resilient food systems.

Farmer and landworker organisations like Landworkers' Alliance, Pasture For Life & the Soil Association, those representing a vision for systems change from the landscape up like the Sustainable Food Trust & Food, Farming and Countryside Commission, campaigning groups like Sustain, WWF, RSPB, The Wildlife Trusts, & Real Farming Trust all of whom recognise that pulses are a powerful lever for change & support work to promote them as part of the transition to an agroecological food system.

Then there are grassroots community networks and their supporters, people like Gaia Foundation, Sustainable Food Places, & Garden Organic getting pulses into homes and gardens.

We love the way Chefs In Schools, Chefs' Manifesto, FSustainable Restaurant Association & Food Foundation are changing the face of public and private procurement, getting pulses on menus in schools, hospitals and restaurants and campaigning for policy change.

And we’re always thrilled to see and (when needed) delighted to support academia as they build our understanding of pulses in the field as well as the social, political and economic case for pulse production and consumption. Places like University of Reading Organic Research Centre Uni of East Anglia Oxford_University and James Hutton Institute.

Finally there are the out and out pulse organisations Global Bean Project, Beans Is How, Global Pulse Confederation and PGRO, working globally and nationally.

And there’s a new organisation getting on the pulse: Barleybird a not for profit established and supported by Hodmedod to deliver agroecological education.

There’s only so much space - do tell us who we’ve missed!

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