Classic hippy bean burgers
I was about two years into my life as a veggie when I went to Glastonbury fair in 1981 with bunch of students who borrowed their university mini van on the pretext of going on an archaeology trip for the weekend. And it was an archaeology trip of a kind I suppose, as we stopped by Glastonbury Tor on the way so we could stock up on ancient energy vibes and stuff before the festival. We definitely go some; it changed my life for ever. So did the yellow star micro-dot and the flying saucer and Tetragrammadon blotters. And Hawkwind too, though I think they only played one big song that lasted ninety minutes. New Order played one of their first gigs after the death of Ian Curtis. I found it hard to get into that. They were all completely smashed, kept falling over and never finished a song. Or maybe it was just me and my micro-dot.
Bean burgers were a big part of that weekend. There were little stalls dotted around the bazaar, with guys making up bean burgers to order from a big bowl of mix. You could get mushroom tea as well. Even though there were thousands of people around, it still seemed quite intimate: you could get your bean burger and go join the crowd round the nearest fire and listen to some songs and chat to people about where they came from and what they were into. The weather was hot and dry all weekend and people started wandering about naked in the sunshine and sat about all night around fires partying. That trip (maybe, those trips) changed my life. I knew where I wanted to go after that. I was just a teenager and very impressionable, but I still feel it was generally the right direction to take. Maybe I was lucky.
The guys tried the archaeology trip thing again and took the van to Morocco, but managed to turn it over on black ice somewhere in the mountains of Spain: game over, baw oan the slates, warning letters all round.... but at least the accident happened on the way back. I guess the ancient energy vibes from the Tor had run out by that time.
I went back to Glasto about ten years after my first visit. I was on my own and I hitch-hiked all the way - it rained the whole way and all the time I was there. There was mud up to my arse and people were doing handstands in it. I didn't have any money, but the guys who picked me up for my last ride let me lie on the floor covered with a blanket, so I got into the parking area free and from there it was just a case of leaping a wee fence and disappearing into the crowd. That was probably the best bit about the whole weekend. All I remembered had gone. Meat burgers and chip vans were much more in evidence than bean burger stalls. There were vicious looking guys with ski masks and baseball bats wandering about offering to sell dope. The festival is more popular nowadays than it ever was, apparently. Every year, tickets are sold out months in advance. But, I think the best days are gone. Maybe I'm just an old sentimental hippy at heart. There are worse things to be....
I still do bean burgers on a regular basis. There are lots of ways of doing them. I don't think anyone could agree on standard recipe, but a bean burger is a bean burger You can't really mistake them. This is just one method, then, and you can alter the ingredients as you wish. I put oregano in this mix, but all sorts of herbs and spices will taste good. Don't be afraid to experiment. The guys at Glastonbury weren't.
Here, I'm giving the amounts I used in the test run which made four burgers but, of course, you can multiply that up as you wish. If you want to open a stall at a summer festival, you'll have to do your maths.
Ingredients
250g cooked beans
1 small onion
1 cup of breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon of tomato paste
A pinch of dried oregano
A tablespoon of flour
Salt
Oil
Chop the onion finely then put all the ingredients in a flat bottomed bowl or a small pan and mash well. Now you've got the basic mix. You can keep it in the fridge and make cutlets as needed, or make up cutlets and freeze them if you wish. Use your hands to form the shapes and dust them in a plate of flour before frying in vegetable oil. Fry for about five minutes each side.
And, of course, the classic way to serve the bean burgers would be in a brown bread roll with ketchup or mustard and maybe a bit of lettuce and a slice of onion. If you're lacto-veggie, a slice of cheese is also a nice addition.