I grew up in the Levant and I am used to eating beans in their raw form as a snack. Peas, fava beans, chickpeas etc. I know this is also common in Turkey. However, in the US and the European countries I've visited, mainstream supermarkets do not seem to carry these items. When they do, it's usually marketed as a novelty or even foreign (snow peas for example). Is this something new in the food culture or have these types of foods always been unpopular? I can't imagine early modern Europeans not eating raw beans.
Is something like this what you mean? Every supermarket I've ever been in had a big section of bagged dry black, pinto, kidney etc beans, that you generally have to soak overnight before cooking. Usually near the pasta, and not relegated to the designated "international" aisle.
Surprised to hear any supermarket wouldn't, but maybe it's regional? I'm in California so there're plenty of Asian and Hispanic people cooking with beans, but it really wouldn't occur to me they wouldn't be staples throughout the US.