Fava Time in Rome: Savored, and Feared
ROME — As hungry Italians at the Festival for the Fava Bean lined up to order fava and pecorino cheese, fava and porchetta or simply bags loaded with fresh fava, the manager of an adjacent garden spoke of the legume with dread.
“We search for them and rip them out,” said Francesco Urso, 72, pointing at a sign that read “The planting of Fava is banned.” The pod bulging with indented oval beans may be delicious, great for the soil and a cherished springtime snack, but the issue was life or death. “Favism,” Mr. Urso said. While many Romans celebrate the May fava season and the coming of spring with fava-heavy picnics, sufferers of favism live in fear. For those with the blood disorder — which Lucio Luzzatto, a leading scientist in the field, said spread throughout the Mediterranean, Africa and the Middle East because it offered some protection against malaria — exposure to fava beans can cause acute hemolytic anemia; induce jaundice; enlarge the spleen; and prompt heart failure and death.
Around Rome, warning signs reading “In this place fresh fava are served” are taped to restaurants and markets. The near-death experiences of favism-afflicted celebrities go viral. “In the period of the fava, be careful,” implored Ginevra Pisani, a television star who described on her social media feed turning “completely yellow, green” and fainting as her “red blood cells committed suicide.”
“And I thought they were good for you, these fava,” she added bitterly.
Many towns have introduced ordinances banning the cultivation of fava beans within hundreds of meters of schools or the homes of the vulnerable, as some favism sufferers say a mere whiff of fava pollen can set off an attack.
Sardinia, the southern Italian island where about 10 percent of the population has favism, has developed some remedies over the years.
“To heal me when I was little, they laid me down and put me up to my face in ox crap,” said Beatrice Brundu, 78, from the town of Perdasdefogu. “And it cured me. Now, they just give me pills.”
But despite the prevalence of the disease, fava beans are unavoidable throughout Italy, especially in Rome in May.
At the Roman restaurant Checchino, which has a beware-of-fava-beans sign on the door, the owner, Francesco Mariani, 62, said the notion of not offering fava in May was ridiculous.
“Don’t go to a Roman restaurant,” he said of people with allergies. “Go get sushi.”
The hundreds of Romans at the fava festival in Castel di Leva knew what they wanted. Green mountains of discarded fava pods stacked up on tables. There was not a warning sign. “It’s a Festival of the Fava,” said Francesco Galli, 47, the event’s organizer. “If you’re allergic, maybe don’t come.”
Sara Lauteri, 29, a fava vendor, said no favism sufferer had ever been reckless enough to approach her.
“Their red globules practically explode,” she said.
Paola Romani, 59, nodded in agreement.
“It’s a nasty disease — it takes you by the throat,” she said. Then she opened a pod, popped some beans into her mouth and bought a bag to go. “May,” she said with a shrug, “is fava.”