Quinoa should be taking over the world. This is why it isn’t
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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
#2> Quinoa is a plant that produces a tremendous amount of seed. So you have potential, with intensive selection, to identify variants that have unusual characteristics.
Will it still be as nutritious after all that selection though? There was an article pointing out that when farmers select for bigger, shinier, more marketable fruit, it's often at the cost of actual nutritional value:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/26/opinion/sunday/breeding-th...
Re: Quinoa should be taking over the world. This is why it isn’t
#3> Quinoa is a plant that produces a tremendous amount of seed. So you have potential, with intensive selection, to identify variants that have unusual characteristics. Will it still be as nutritious after all that selection though? There was an article pointing out that when farmers select for bigger, shinier, more marketable fruit, it's often at the cost of actual nutritional value: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/26…
Unlike vegetable and fruits, how quinoa looks probably doesn't matter to consumers at all. Given this is the case, selection criteria will focus more on nutrition numbers which they can advertise easily (20g OF PROTEIN!!!) than looks.
Re: Quinoa should be taking over the world. This is why it isn’t
#4A particular concern with quinoa, given its narrow (native) growing area, and the poverty endemic to that area, is that worldwide demand for the crop has out-priced its growers' and their communities' ability to afford it in order to feed themselves. A select few brands set aside some of each harvest specifically for that purpose (and also put some of their profits back into improving the farms, sending the farmers' children to college, and that kind of thing), but so far, that's decidedly not the norm.
Re: Quinoa should be taking over the world. This is why it isn’t
#5Isn't quinoa technically a fruit? One problem with it is when you cook it, unlike say rice, it's tough to refrigerate or store it without it turning into a gelatinous mess.
Re: Quinoa should be taking over the world. This is why it isn’t
#6A particular concern with quinoa, given its narrow (native) growing area, and the poverty endemic to that area, is that worldwide demand for the crop has out-priced its growers' and their communities' ability to afford it in order to feed themselves . A select few brands set aside some of each harvest specifically for that purpose (and also put some of their profits back into improving the farms, sending the farmers'…
Why is this a problem? If quinoa sprouted literal diamonds we wouldn't be upset that the farmers were selling them instead of making their own jewelry.
Having your crops be too valuable to eat is a good problem to have; these farmers incomes have more than sextupled. That easily lets them sell the crop and buy other food like everyone else.
Re: Quinoa should be taking over the world. This is why it isn’t
#7Isn't quinoa technically a fruit? One problem with it is when you cook it, unlike say rice, it's tough to refrigerate or store it without it turning into a gelatinous mess.
No, it's a "pseudocereal", a broad-leaf plant whose seeds are used similarly to cereal grains ("cereals", proper, are all grasses).
Re: Quinoa should be taking over the world. This is why it isn’t
#8> Quinoa is a plant that produces a tremendous amount of seed. So you have potential, with intensive selection, to identify variants that have unusual characteristics. Will it still be as nutritious after all that selection though? There was an article pointing out that when farmers select for bigger, shinier, more marketable fruit, it's often at the cost of actual nutritional value: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/26…
Unlike vegetable and fruits, how quinoa looks probably doesn't matter to consumers at all. Given this is the case, selection criteria will focus more on nutrition numbers which they can advertise easily (20g OF PROTEIN!!!) than looks.
How does that explain white rice vs. brown rice preferences, or glutinous rice vs longgrain, etc.
People have preferences for some characteristics in something which would seem to be very ordinary.
Maybe quinoa is different, but who knows, at this point. Maybe it's like oats. Oats are oats are oats, for most people, I think (except for the cutting vs rolling process)
Re: Quinoa should be taking over the world. This is why it isn’t
#9Isn't quinoa technically a fruit? One problem with it is when you cook it, unlike say rice, it's tough to refrigerate or store it without it turning into a gelatinous mess.
Quinoa is a grain, which is technically a seed.
I'm confused about the refrigeration comment though - I make quinoa all the time and have not had that issue.
Re: Quinoa should be taking over the world. This is why it isn’t
#10A particular concern with quinoa, given its narrow (native) growing area, and the poverty endemic to that area, is that worldwide demand for the crop has out-priced its growers' and their communities' ability to afford it in order to feed themselves . A select few brands set aside some of each harvest specifically for that purpose (and also put some of their profits back into improving the farms, sending the farmers'…
Why is this a problem? If quinoa sprouted literal diamonds we wouldn't be upset that the farmers were selling them instead of making their own jewelry. Having your crops be too valuable to eat is a good problem to have; these farmers incomes have more than sextupled. That easily lets them sell the crop and buy other food like everyone else.
>That easily lets them sell the crop and buy other food like everyone else.
[citation needed].