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Quinoa should be taking over the world. This is why it isn’t

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Re: Quinoa should be taking over the world. This is why it isn’t

#171

Post by sanityinc »

DigitalSea wrote: post #109
scythe wrote: post #80

Quinoa, famous for protein and fiber content, still contains less protein and fiber than, say, oatmeal. It's okay - hyperventilating paleo bloggers have raised concerns about saponins -- but the whole "superfood" frenzy about quinoa is just a tad off base. It's okay, not bad for you, probably better than white rice or processed food, but most of what quinoa has going for it is simply that it is real and unmodified. I…

Would you use Oatmeal in place of rice though? I couldn't picture a healthy curry or stir-fry that used Oatmeal instead of Quinoa in place of rice, could you?

There's a Heston Blumenthal recipe for quinoa sushi.

Re: Quinoa should be taking over the world. This is why it isn’t

#172

Post by nitrogen »

dalys wrote: post #163
etler wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oatmeal is very dense. Calorie for Calorie Quinoa has more protein and dietary fiber than oatmeal. 100 calories of Quinoa http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=83+g+quinoa 100 calories of Oatmeal http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=26+g+oatmeal However if you look at the vitamins, oatmeal wins. I also wouldn't call Quinoa a super food, but it does fill a gap left by other grains and is definitely a worthy addition to…

Unfortunately WolframAlpha is a little off on this one. It shows data for cooked quinoa which is very misguiding. The "correct" macronutrient values with some comparisons: Quinoa: 368kcal / Protein 14g / Fat 6g / Carbs 64g Oats: 379/13/6/67 Regular pasta: 360/12/1/72 Couscous: 361/13/1/72 "Quinoa is a low-calorie, gluten-free, high-protein grain that tastes great." says the author. It's low-calorie compared to butter…

Quinoa is low calorie in the sense that it has fewer calories per gram of total mass (see several siblings to your comment).

Re: Quinoa should be taking over the world. This is why it isn’t

#173

Post by Egregore »

al1x wrote: post #120
etler wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oatmeal is very dense. Calorie for Calorie Quinoa has more protein and dietary fiber than oatmeal. 100 calories of Quinoa http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=83+g+quinoa 100 calories of Oatmeal http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=26+g+oatmeal However if you look at the vitamins, oatmeal wins. I also wouldn't call Quinoa a super food, but it does fill a gap left by other grains and is definitely a worthy addition to…

The source you really want to use for nutrition information is the USDA National Nutrient Database. See http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/6359?fg=&man=&lfacet=... and http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/1866

These graphs are based on usda data:

http://food.vegtalk.org/nutrients/cereals/protein.html

It shows that some products, like wheat durum are richer in proteins but with the almost the same amount of calories.

Re: Quinoa should be taking over the world. This is why it isn’t

#174

Post by anonymous »

anothausa wrote: post #164
sliverstorm wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rolled oats at least get very mushy when they are edible. They have no body like most other grains do.

I suppose that's because they are rolled. And most likely steamed as well. If you subjected wheat or corn to a similar processing, the outcome would certainly be the same.

Whole-grain oats on the other hand are pretty hardy things. You need to boil them for an hour and then chew like a horse.

Re: Quinoa should be taking over the world. This is why it isn’t

#175

Post by JoeAltmaier »

Here's how to explain the graph showing a bump and then a downturn in American consumption. Tastes funky; hard to cook; unfamiliar consistency. Enthusiastic people (my wife) buy it and it sits on the shelf, they don't know what to do with it, lose interest.

Re: Quinoa should be taking over the world. This is why it isn’t

#176

Post by jinushaun »

latch wrote: post #108
scythe wrote: post #80

Quinoa, famous for protein and fiber content, still contains less protein and fiber than, say, oatmeal. It's okay - hyperventilating paleo bloggers have raised concerns about saponins -- but the whole "superfood" frenzy about quinoa is just a tad off base. It's okay, not bad for you, probably better than white rice or processed food, but most of what quinoa has going for it is simply that it is real and unmodified. I…

" Probably better than processed food" ? It's gluten free, which is important for some people (a lot if you buy into wheat belly). It's another source of a complete protein, which is important for vegans. Not all popular health foods get converted into crap. There might be unhealthy variants of these, but fruits, vegetables, legumes, fish and soy tend to be popular and healthy. I'd even say that processed foods which…

"Not all popular health foods get converted into crap."

Have you seen kale chips and vegetable chips? Apparently the only way to convince people to eat their vegetables is to fry it and add a bunch of salt.

I agree with the parent, if quinoa actually became popular, the food industry will figure out a way to fuck it up.

Re: Quinoa should be taking over the world. This is why it isn’t

#177

Post by lukasb »

nknighthb wrote: post #170
sambe wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From reading the grandparent: "subsistence farmers are net consumers of their staple crop. In order to survive, the poor diversify across a variety of agricultural products" I don't understand the downvotes for the parent. They are growing other products, or have cash from other activities, and use this to buy the staple they can't grow. If price of staple rises and price of other products and services does not, they…

The part where even if that is true, there are other, cheaper staples. This should be a classic self-correcting problem. The world as a whole has gotten by on staples other than quinoa. Now that the market price of this particular local staple has skyrocketed, it can be sold in exchange for greater quantities of less-expensive staples used elsewhere. If there is in fact a problem (and I do question its existence), I…

They don't have access to other, cheaper staples. These are geographically isolated farmers in countries with poor infrastructure.

Re: Quinoa should be taking over the world. This is why it isn’t

#178

Post by lukasb »

Gormo wrote: post #153
lukasb wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More typically, farmers produce 10 units, sell 3, and buy another 10 later in the year. Hence any rise in price is a net loss for them.

Where does the second set of 10 units come from?

Large-scale industrial farming operations. That was the case in Kenya, anyway.

Re: Quinoa should be taking over the world. This is why it isn’t

#179

Post by reeses »

DanBC wrote: post #168
reeses wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is basic Adam Smith-David Ricardo economics. They can grow quinoa and eat the seeds or export them and import a more diverse diet. Even if other countries can cultivate quinoa, it may make sense for Andeans to export their quinoa and import other foods.

We don't know if they make enough from exporting quinoa to import more diverse food.

I'm not sure I understand your point. You don't know if they can make enough from exporting quinoa to import more diverse food, so...?

Re: Quinoa should be taking over the world. This is why it isn’t

#180

Post by GigabyteCoin »

dwiel wrote: post #105
GigabyteCoin wrote: post #95

Quinoa gives me such gut-wrenching pain that I can no longer convince myself to eat it. My girlfriend is vegetarian which is why I have such great armchair-scientific experience in describing this potentially-foul food. I've been told to wash the Quinoa to remove the saponin from it before cooking, which worked on occasion. But when you get that gut-pain from eating Quinoa even once it's an incredibly strong deterren…

I did. I had to take medicatipn and stop eating rice for a year or so. Now, I can eat rice as long as my stomach isnt aleady upset from something else. I love quinoa.

Care to elaborate on the name of your condition or what exactly it was in rice that caused it?
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