Posted on 01/17/2013 12:38:00 AM PST by Cronos
Not long ago, quinoa was just an obscure Peruvian grain you could only buy in wholefood shops. We struggled to pronounce it (it's keen-wa, not qui-no-a), yet it was feted by food lovers as a novel addition to the familiar ranks of couscous and rice. Dieticians clucked over quinoa approvingly because it ticked the low-fat box and fitted in with government healthy eating advice to "base your meals on starchy foods".
Adventurous eaters liked its slightly bitter taste and the little white curls that formed around the grains. Vegans embraced quinoa as a credibly nutritious substitute for meat. Unusual among grains, quinoa has a high protein content (between 14%-18%), and it contains all those pesky, yet essential, amino acids needed for good health that can prove so elusive to vegetarians who prefer not to pop food supplements.
Sales took off. Quinoa was, in marketing speak, the "miracle grain of the Andes", a healthy, right-on, ethical addition to the meat avoider's larder (no dead animals, just a crop that doesn't feel pain). Consequently, the price shot up – it has tripled since 2006 – with more rarified black, red and "royal" types commanding particularly handsome premiums.
But there is an unpalatable truth to face for those of us with a bag of quinoa in the larder. The appetite of countries such as ours for this grain has pushed up prices to such an extent that poorer people in Peru and Bolivia, for whom it was once a nourishing staple food, can no longer afford to eat it. Imported junk food is cheaper. In Lima, quinoa now costs more than chicken. Outside the cities, and fuelled by overseas demand, the pressure is on to turn land that once produced a portfolio of diverse crops into quinoa monoculture.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
I’ll say it how I damn well want to say it.
> ... It’s expensive, so I don’t buy it anymore.
It’s probably like the Chia seeds that my wife tried a few years ago.
The first time she bought them they were about a dollar a pound.
A year later $4 per pound, then 6 months later $9 per pound.
She stopped when they got to double digits.
“I’ll say it how I damn well want to say it.”
I wonder what you are talking about?
We have had 4 ‘ of rain in the last few days and it continues
We have had 4”’ of rain in the last few days and it continues
Eat more Possum. They do feel pain but who cares?
Costco here in Southern California offers a ready made bowl of salad made with it, similar to a pasta salad with green peppers and cucumber,etc. — expensive at $12 per lg serving bowl and good. But after doing that once, I’m all caught up with quinoa for life.
Ha! Few things in this world annoy me more than these vegetarians who who don't eat meat out of some religious duty to the environment. I've got a bunch of grand nieces and their effete husbands who worship at the altar of mother earth.
I would consider the use of ethanol in cars, burning about a third of our corn and a lot of sugar based ethanol, to be the greater sin. We’re exporting far less food, so global prices for all grains - including quinoa - are up.
With such a profit margin, there’s no need to destroy South American rainforests - grow it here! If it likes cold mountainous regions, somewhere in the Rockies should work.
The thing is moderation — it’s good to eat a lot of veggies, yes, but some meat is important for a balanced diet.
Vegans - let them eat kudzu.
Not only that but it turns out most people have difficulties with gluten. I stopped eating gluten 2.5 years ago and the smallest amount of wheat now would make me sick. It’s like a poison that most people keep taking. It causes leaky gut and that hurts our immune systems etc.
However, I do not eat quinoa. I try to stay away from grains, but when I do eat any it will be rice, tapioca, teff.
I’m with the bunny and the kitty.
Also from my own observation: Vegans have an eating disorder; we are carnivores and have the teeth to prove it. Often the vegan 20 something females pop synthetic hormone birth control pills yet by abstaining from meat, feel superior and healthier than the rest of us. Go figure ... liberals lack logic.
“..worship at the altar of mother earth...”
Yes - and soy is chemically similar to synthetic estrogen - it is NOT healthier than cows milk - no wonder we have an epidemic of confused/homosexual males - their mothers were giving them soy milk formula as babies/toddlers thinking they were being healthier and they were actually giving their sons an estrogenlike compound to ingest.
Liberals lack logic.
PS - I have similar sounding neices - at least my 20 something daughters did not jump on that bandwagon.
Stupid, harmful advice.
Mine probably did for a brief period in their late teens/early 20's. Thank God they outgrew it quickly when they met and finally married some real men, not those nancy pants my nieces keep bringing home. My sons never bought into it though.
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