Should they describe this menu item better

I would provide feedback that spicy beans should be labelled as such, and that you had to wait 20 minutes for toast. They can't improve if they don't know what customers are unhappy about.

You don't under taken beans on toast because you want a gourmet meal, you order because you want standard baked beans on toast. Especially if ordering for a 1 year old.

if I want handcrafted food I don't go to a basic cafe. When
i gi to a basic cafe, I want simple basic food where I know what I'm getting.

You summed it up beautifully 😆

Especially in a charity cafe.

Agree. I need to get a good bean cookbook. I don't eat enough protein.

I think that is absolutely true actually.

There is an interesting document by the Food Foundation UK which addresses the status of beans - and legumes generally, in fact - in UK diets. You get them a lot more in other cuisines - Mexican obviously (!), but think also of French soupe au pistou, puy lentils, and plenty of Italian dishes, and things like hummus from chickpea, and chickpea tagines etc.

The Food foundation states that "Diets that are low in legumes are associated with up to 9,000 premature deaths in the UK each year (Global Burden of Disease Collaborative Network, 2021)". I'm not sure how they worked that out with exactitude, but I do accept their general point which is that having only an emergency Heinz tin in the pantry is a bit of a blind-spot on what is a fabulous nutritional resource.

They are a superfood, and such a great comfort food too.

Mumsnet is another planet sometimes. Who’s seriously asking what type of beans are being served for “beans on toast”?! In real life everyone would just assume it was tinned beans like you did OP, it should have said if it was something different from the norm.

Then the VAST majority of the time you'd be disappointed UNLESS (which I doubt) you mean you'd scorch them to come out of a catering style container (generally a huge plastic lidded 'tub')

You feel depressed by that?

Good God how do you get through life.

💁🏻‍♀️even if they didn't (and I kind of disagree as I think some home made style baked beans look similar enough to a 1 yo) they don't have a developed enough taste/knowledge to determine that 'it must be the spices making this taste hirrud' I'll just swallow thus, have a drink & nit gave any more.

if it tastes horrible to a 1 yo they're going to react as nature intended & spit it out. It's not naughty, it's self preservation.

So many bonkers people on Mumsnet.😂 This thread is bringing out the crazy people!!

I think you're extrapolating a lot from beans! I think most people don't put beans in the same category as a lot of other foods. And that distinction is not, in and of itself, indicative of a lowering of culinary standards.

Sadly this is the problem when children are fed what is deemed to be ‘kids food’ rather than eating what adults eat. I would think that after a class when you know he will be hungry and probably tired as well maybe wasn’t the best time to try this place. And if it didn’t work out chalk it up to experience. There will be plenty more before he hits 18!

Can't believe I have just spent way too long reading a debate about baked beans 😄

I guess it might be reasonable, but I do feel a bit depressed by that, which is what I first said. The more "reasonable," the more depressing I find it. I do think we fall behind other countries in terms of our expectations around food.

I'm sure it does but it is still entirely reasonable for someone to assume that beans on toast on a children's menu in a café means beans out of a tin in a standard tomato sauce.

Anyway, after all this talk about them, I'm now about to make them for tonight! Perfect easy meal. It's all in my pot in under five minutes then bake ...

Yes, they all were.

The only times I have ever had anything different they were described as something different, of course, which is why I chose them (no offense to tinned baked beans!)

Every restaurant or cafe I’ve been to in the last several years has asked if there are any allergies or dietary requirements. If you say no because you’ve made assumptions about what is or isn’t in the food you haven’t prepared that’s on you.

I wouldnt expected baked beans to come out of a tin in a cafe.

I can't imagine anyone who thinks OP was being unreasonable has any idea of the costs or profit margins in this industry. The majority of venues cannot afford to have someone slaving over "baked beans"

The cafe is run not for profit, so even less reason to think you would be getting anything different or elevated.

Baked refers to the cooking method, not the flavourings.

Teapot I think they would be baked beans from a tin...

Well, see you have a bar too, and it's pasta sauce - which can perfectly easily be bought in a jar, yet you don't seem to feel that is "twatty."

Baked beans are every bit as easy - and truly delicious. If you do them in an iron pot they get that deep rich iron flavour of homecooked stews. And you can customise them - which is part of the joy. My DH likes bacon bits. I like a good whack of chilli and fresh parsley.

Maybe that's the difference. I consider them to be pretty much a condiment rather than a proper food. Which is why I wouldn't expect them to be homemade any more than I would expect the mayonnaise to be. But I would expect a proper dish and its elements to be homemade.