Can vegans stomach the unpalatable truth about quinoa?

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.

Such imbalances always happen with new markets. The truth is, that Americans have a very limited selection of popular grains. Popular precisely because they are processed to taste better.

But the truth is there are a bunch of grains out there we *could* be eating, not as unpalatable as health nuts would eat them, but far tastier once they, too, are processed.

And it’s important to keep in mind that more grains mean a more and varied cuisine: more tasty stuff to eat. If all you ate was the food at McDonalds, at first food at Taco Bell would seem very exotic, but in short order you would appreciate the variation. It doesn’t mean you would stop eating at Mickey Dees.

Some alternative grains we should take more advantage of in the future:

1) Amaranth. It is a “pseudo-grain” – like quinoa and buckwheat. It also has some ingredients, like Lysine, that are short in other grains, so it makes a good complement to them.

2) Barley. Great for beer, it doesn’t work so well for processing, but it is a great addition to stews and soups.

3) Buckwheat. Buckwheat is actually a fruit, but makes a tolerably good flour, and some varieties of buckwheat pancakes can be low carbohydrate.

4) Quinoa and Kañiwa. The former is making its way into the grocery store, and behaves somewhat like barley. They, along with Amaranth, were historical South American grains that supported empires.

5) Millet. Only a less popular type is grown in America, almost exclusively fed to animals, though different types are quite popular as a human food elsewhere. Its big advantage is that it grows in semi-arid regions with high temperatures, and has a short growing season. It is often blended with sorghum.

6) Oats. Definitely a common and pleasant grain that is seriously underused.

7) Rye. Not just for whiskey, it is a popular grain where it is cold and too wet for wheat. Still underused.

8) Sorghum. In the rest of the world, half of sorghum is consumed by people. In the US, almost all is used for animal fodder. Makes a good flour, and sorghum syrup is a good alternative to molasses.

9) Spelt. A now neglected sub-species of wheat that was harder to mechanically process, so went by the wayside. It is now regaining some popularity in Britain, tasting sort of like a lighter and sweeter variety of Rye, with a nutty flavor.

10) Teff. Pretty limited to Ethiopia, it has a lot of potential, especially with some selective breeding. It absorbs less common minerals from the ground, so makes a good complementary food. Somewhat like Quinoa, but with small seeds, so it cooks faster and with less fuel.

11) Wild rice. Actually not a rice, but a lake grass seed. It does make a good blend with other rices, though it is somewhat expensive compared to white rice.

12) Others. To include other, less common varieties of wheat and rice with different flavors and textures. While America produces almost exclusively long grain rice, short grain “sticky” rice is popular in Chinese restaurants. There is also medium grain rice, black “emperor” rice, and non-grain foods like chickpeas (hummus).

Definitely a decent way to get pasta ~ but I prefer the one with the different colors that's made with corn (talking about the small elbows). So far I haven't found a substitute for something wheat-free in a decent cut zitti ~ but we did find a SHORT gluten free zitti ~ you can pretend it's the real thing.

The production of wheat/barley/rye free pasta is getting better, and it's more available. The stuff is still expensive.

Here's my 'tastes like bread' recipe. Buy Mexican made (here or there) 6 inch tortillas which are constructed from WHITE CORN, not white corn flour or granules, but the whole kernels. Guerrero started moving that to market all over the country over the last year so you can count on it being out there.

With the slightest addition of capsaicin (in a barbeque sauce, a few crushed red seeds, maybe a curry) this stuff tastes exactly like bread ~ 'cause I still remember bread and this is the taste.

Remember, before doing anything with the small tortillas you must heat them. 35 seconds on high for 2 of them will give you one that can bear more cooking later ~ like after you make a burrito and toss that in the oven. 45 seconds on high for 2 of them can be used now like a soft taco shell. If you go a full minute it will stiffen up like a yellow corn taco shell, so stop it at 45 seconds, load it with goodies, then give it another 15 seconds. It should stiffen up to where you can handle it.

Another discovery ~ use goat cheese instead of a cow's milk based spread if you want to avoid heating it up enough to melt cheese.

Thanks Cronos.

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.

Better quinoa than coca.

Same thing happened with eating fish to avoid eating red meat, and in fact that has happened more than once -- one of the long series of discoveries of the Americas happened due to the pursuit of the catch to satisfy the papal-mandated fish-on-Friday menu during the Middle Ages. Now we hear (occasionally) of depleted fisheries.

:’) It’s always a good one to touch off in their smug little faces, even though there’s some meme-building going on claiming that it isn’t true. Back when Hitler ate beef, he demanded it well done, because — and this is darkly amusing — he didn’t want even a hint of blood on the plate.

Here’s a fun one from a Vietnam vet and unreconstructed Demwit:

Lyrics for “Hitler Was a Vegetarian”:
http://www.joelmabus.com/288_lyrics.htm#hitler

a cover version;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZnMdtESn7c

Joel Mabus is best known probably for this one, “Touch a Name on the Wall”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsUXKeeTIIk

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