Is fabulous faba fatal?

Vicia Faba! It is just the right time for fava beans, also known as broad beans. They're called bakla in Turkish and are a favorite springtime vegetable. The appearance of fresh fava pods in the market is an indicator of spring, it is the first seasonal vegetable to appear, usually even before artichokes. In Turkish cuisine, fava beans are cooked when very young, in its entirety, the whole pod, before the beans inside are developed. Braised in olive oil, "zeytinyağlı bakla" is the ultimate spring dish especially in the haute cuisine of Istanbul. Tender fava beans have two must-have companions: fresh dill and yogurt. Fresh dill is the choice of herb with many spring veggies, artichokes and peas are never without a sprinkling of chopped dill, but unlike other vegetables, the love affair between fava beans and dill is so strong that they are inseparable, so much so that you won't buy fava beans if there is no dill available. The latter is another love affair. In Turkish cuisine, certain olive oil braised vegetables are eaten with a few tablespoons of yogurt on the side, but there are unwritten rules pertaining to this pairing. Yogurt with artichokes, peas, beans etc., is always a never-combination, but yogurt is almost essential with eggplant and courgettes, and in the case of fresh fava beans, it is a must-have combination. This reminds me of my years as a student back in 1970's and 80's at Middle East Technical University, not that we used to have broad beans in the campus canteen so often, but we had the gendarmerie intruding on campus quite often, as every now and then we had student manifestations. As soon as the gendarmerie stepped in, the news spread through the campus at the speed of lightning: "Yoğurtlu bakla" is on campus! That was the code, literally...