ethics of Quinoa

[Tiam]

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/About/General/2013/1/16/1358330715208/Bolivian-woman-harvesting-010.jpg

If this has been posted before, please forgive me. I searched for it but didn't find it. Believe it or not, I've never tried Quinoa. But I saw this article today and post it out of interest:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/16/vegans-stomach-unpalatable-truth-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.

[catherine]

Shoot! I just made quinoa stuffed peppers yesterday! Thanks for ruining a good meal! ;)

Seriously, thanks for sharing. I'll look into it further.

[Tiam]

I'm sorry. Not looking to ruin anyone's day. The article goes on to question a lot of world food supply and distribution including Peruvian asparagus and deforestation of South American forest due to Soy farming and overall the ethics of food sourcing. Which I never really thought about in these terms. Of course I've heard it before in terms of more domestic crops or South American Beef industry, but it's a global perspective.

[puglogic]

The quinoa we eat is grown in the San Luis Valley of Colorado. So I feel fine about that.

I'm sorry this is happening, and I'm glad you called attention to it, but if I had to weigh the global implications of every food I eat, I fear there would be nothing left for me to eat. If I eat Washington apples, I'm putting New Zealand apple farmers out of business. If I insist on eating grains and nuts from the U.S., I'm affecting the people who grow the same thing in the mediterranean and middle east. I insist on purchasing rice grown in the Western U.S. too, which can't be doing rice farmers in the Gulf states any good. Not to mention the cheap plastic crap we all purchase from China, which assures American workers will be losing jobs on every front.

It's not that I don't care, it's just that I feel there's little I can do here. I am weary of trying to do the right thing, stay within my budget, and not poison my body all at the same time, while working a more-than-full-time job, cooking at home, eating less meat, hanging my laundry to dry, etc. Sorry to vent, but I can't take one more article telling me what a horrible person I am for eating A, B, or C.

[Zoe Girl]

I love quinoa, and it still seems that is a lot better than a McDonalds meat based diet that destroys rain forest. It seems that maybe some of the peruvian farmers who grow this should be making money? however I know that is not the case often.

[Tiam]

Here's another side of the story and shows the impact of globalization.
http://ourworld.unu.edu/en/quinoa-brings-riches-to-the-andes/


Averaging $3,115 (£1,930) per tonne in 2011, quinoa has tripled in price since 2006. Coloured varieties fetch even more. Red royal quinoa sells at about $4,500 a tonne and the black variety can reach $8,000 per tonne. The crop has become a lifeline for the people of Bolivia’s Oruro and Potosi regions, among the poorest in what is one of South America’s poorest nations.

It is quinoa’s moment on the world stage. This year is the UN’s International Year of Quinoa as the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation recognises the crop’s resilience, adaptability and its “potential contribution in the fight against hunger and malnutrition”.

Evo Morales, the Bolivian leader whose government suggested the special recognition for the grain, said: “For years [quinoa] was looked down on just like the indigenous movement. To remember that past is to remember discrimination against quinoa and now after so many years it is reclaiming its rightful recognition as the most important food for life.”

However, there are concerns the 5,000 year-old ancestral crop is being eaten less by its traditional consumers: quinoa farmers. “They have westernised their diets because they have more profits and more income,” says Mejia, an agronomist. “Ten years ago they had only an Andean diet in front of them. They had no choice. But now they do and they want rice, noodles, candies, coke, they want everything!”

Daysi Munoz, who runs a La Paz-based quinoa farming collective, agrees. “As the price has risen quinoa is consumed less and less in Bolivia. It’s worth more to them [the producers] to sell it or trade it for pasta and rice. As a result, they’re not eating it any more.”

[Rogar]

Thanks for the interesting information. Quinoa isn't exactly one of my staples and I can easily cut it from my grocery list or check that it is grown in Colorado's San Luis Valley.

It seems like grain supplies that the poor in developing countries are increasingly at risk for price increases due to a changing climate, growing populations and competition from ethanol production. It is sort of like painting a future where the rich will continue to flourish and the poor will suffer more. It seems like picking a healthy and responsible diet is like shooting at a moving target, but I'm convinced that the most basic best thing a person can do is reduce or eliminate meat.

I was reading a recent article where one of the founders of the anti-GMO movement, Mark Lynas, has reversed his stance and now pro GMO due to increased food production to feed the world's growing population.
http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2013/01/mark-lynas-failed-attempt-end-gm-debate

[Suzanne]

An excellent perspective on the problems of hunger can be found in Richard Manning's book, Food's Frontiers. Some of these problems may well be unsolvable without the judicious use of genetic engineering, or cultural restructuring (not likely that people who've eaten chickpeas for generations will switch overnight to peanuts, even if the latter are totally resistant to the pests that destroy the former!), but in other cases it's often as simple as infrastructure failure - as in Mozambique, where bumper crops of grain rotted because of lack of roads and trucks. And I still want food to be labelled so that I have full access to information and can make my own decision as to what goes into my mouth.

I read Lynas' article, need to know more about his reasoning and would like to see his evidence. His high-speed gallop ends with the kind of gung-ho demand that always brings me out in a rash with rage: essentially, people who want to know more about GMOs before making up their minds, and want to build in safeguards, should just get out of the way so that the righteous enlightened can get on with their divinely mandated mission of saving the world.

[Simone]

Please read this week's Slate.com for a guilt-relieving analysis of this issue.

[Sagewoman]

Many decades ago I read "Diet for a Small Planet." It changed the way I looked at food, and I saw how this can happen with any crop. The book mentioned similar things about other food (and nonfood) products. The problem really is global food corporations, not each of us needing to eat! It cannot be solved at the level of the individual. That said, I find it better to try and eat as many local products as possible or as close to home as possible. One reason to garden and preserve my own food as well. It is a conscience thing, but I don't expect it to change this type of exploitation and ruin of the environment. Corporations that are beyond the control of any one country will do this in one way or another.

I do eat quinoa because I'm on a gluten-free diet. I will try to use Colorado or other U.S. grown in the future.

[puglogic]

White Mountain Farm in Colorado grows some lovely quinoa, both regular and black (yum)

I've always wanted to try to grow it: http://sustainableseedco.com/heirloom-grain-seed/quinoa-seed/shelly-25-colorado-black-quinoa.html

I usually purchase mine from Golden Organics ( http://goldenorganics.net ) but they only have the Colorado-sourced stuff part of the year. I do without the rest of the time. I'm getting pretty touchy about any foods that have to travel thousands of miles to reach me....