Choosing to be a vegetarian makes sense for someone who lives in constant fear of salmonella, but when one becomes a vegetarian it is important to note that most vegetables are also capable of killing you.
Take kidney beans for instance. Kidney beans are a lovely legume that taste good in basically anything and cost next to nothing. You can buy a huge bag of raw kidney beans for a couple bucks- canned beans are cheaper and easier to make, but canned things can give you botulism and should be avoided at all costs.
Kidney beans are filled with nutrients like iron, thiamin (Vitamin B1), folate, fibre and Phytohemagglutinin, a toxic compound that can cause "gas or in some cases death".
Google recipes forgot to mention this bit to me so here's some advice on how to properly cook beans.
Take two cups of beans and put them in a bowl. Cover the beans with lots of cold water and leave the beans to soak overnight. In the morning the beans should have absorbed all the water, softened up, and grown to be about twice their original size. If instead they've shrivelled up like mine did then you've done something wrong, but I don't know what.
Once the beans have soaked overnight, throw them in a pot and boil them for at least an hour. DO NOT TASTE TEST ANY BEANS BEFORE THE HOUR IS UP. EVEN EATING FOUR UNDERCOOKED BEANS CAN CAUSE VOMITING, ABDOMINAL PAIN, AND MANY OTHER BAD THINGS. I don't know why other recipes don't emphasize this important information.
When your beans are done, or you think they might be done because most likely they won't be done yet, cut one open with a fork. If it is creamy throughout the entire bean it's relatively safe to eat.
