Cholent came about for a number of reasons, but I suspect the first one might be to show people such as the Karaites who only beleived in the written literal translation fo the Torah without the Toah She b’al peh, that “lo siva’aru aish b’chol moshvoseichem” on Shabbos, did not mean that one had to sit in the dark for Shabbos and eat cold food. By making a food that conformed to the halacha and was already pre-cooked and then left on a warm blech until the next day’s lunch meal on Shabbos, the Jews who were Shomrei Torah u’mitzvos were validating the Talmud. The TYPE of food used in cholent probably was a mixture of the foods which were most affordable to most Jews, a tiny amount of flanken mixed in with an abundance of beans and potatoes, cheap, healthy protein and carbohydrates. There are many variations on a basic choletn, but almost all types call for those basic ingredients.
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