OBJECTIVE: The importance of food away from home nowadays and the cultural and nutritional role of beans in the Brazilian diet led this study to investigate the bean prepreparation techniques used by foodservices in the Brazilian South and Southeast regions. METHODS: A questionnaire was developed and made available online. The sample consisted of dieticians in charge of foodservices and sample size was time-dependent: the questionnaire was available online for 18 weeks. The questionnaires included dieticians' professional license numbers to prevent repeated answers. The data were analyzed by basic descriptive statistics and the chi-square test. RESULTS: A total of 445 dieticians responsible for 413,688 meals a day answered the questionnaire. Nearly half the sample (49%) soaked the beans before preparation. There was no association between soaking and type of bean, number of meals served per day or foodservice location. Beans were usually soaked for operational reasons rather than sensory reasons. Most foodservices (69%) discarded the soaking water. CONCLUSION: Apparently, the decision to soak depends on the dietician's perceived importance of soaking, which may be attributed to the scarcity of information about the effect of soaking on the sensory and nutritional quality of this food.
Water; Phaseolus; Questionnaire; Food Services
