Robin Leventhal, of Walla Walla, Wash., stirs the giant bowl of lentil chili during the 2014 National Lentil Festival on Friday at Reaney Park in Pullman, Wash. (AP Photo/The Moscow-Pullman Daily News, Dean Hare)

Noble legume, small and classy,
full of protein, although gassy;
a boon for farms from Sprague to Lind –
when I attend I stay upwind.

The Bard of Sherman Avenue