Arts
Quinoa. Or, as my 2009 past self would have pronounced it Qi-no-a is perhaps the quintessential healthy food. Praised and exalted by patchouli scented foodies for the past couple of decades, quinoa, has all the qualities the health food scene desires. Quinoa has a great story. A recently discovered magic seed, highly adaptable to adverse soil and weather conditions, harvested and cleaned by exotic peasants living on the cliffs of the high Andes. At one time a subsistence crop, now, due to its growing popularity with foreigners, the exportation of this crop has, in a real way, increased the standard of living for these farmers. A seed worthy of the worn out, thrown about, overly marketed term “superfood.” The United Nations itself classified quinoa as a “super crop” for its high protein content. It contains all nine essential amino acids, including the amino acid lysine, which is essential for tissue growth and repair, and quinoa is a source of manganese, magnesium, iron, copper and phosphorous. It is a great story. Yet, how the story is told, what is added and what is left out is dependent on the story teller. And Quinoa is one example of many whose story has been told through the gaze of the explorer and the conqueror. At the core it is a story not of a seed that was found, but a seed that was lost. According to some academics, Quinoa can be considered one of the oldest crops in the Andean Region. A region that spans the countries of Equador, Peru, Bolivia, Columbia, Chili, and Argentina. Quinoa has been cultivated over the past 5000 years with great empires, the Incas and the Tiahuanacu, playing a role in its domestication and conservation. These peoples and other lesser known groups, the Wari, Mochica, Chimu and Nazca cultures had a special interest in the domestication of plant species to the extent that by the 16th Century the Andes had more domesticated species than Asia, Africa, and perhaps even in Europe although for obvious reasons that comparison was never made by 19th Century American Botanist, O.F Cook. From the beginning of the 15th Century an exchange of seeds became widespread within the Inca Empire. It was through this exchange, that Andean Peasants were able to improve biological diversity as a strategy to cope with a risky climate common with mountainous agriculture. The Andean Peasants also worked within a highly technical agricultural system called Aynokas. Where community collaboration, crop rotation, and the temporary conversion of cultivated land to fallow land allowed the people to grow food while also maintaining the nutritional health of their soil. In the 16th Century, however, the Spanish arrived and along with their guns and diseases came their food which disrupted the Andean agriculture. Over time, quinoa, which the Incas’ had considered sacred and was referred to as the “mother grain” became marginalized and lost its influence with the population writ large. Quinoa returned back to its beginnings. The Andean farmers continued to grow it, but only for their own sustenance. For those who lived in more urban centers in the Andean countries it all but didn’t exist.Quinoa and other native crops were replaced with barley, wheat, oats, beans, and peas. These new crops that were introduced by the Spanish did well at high altitudes and compared to quinoa they were easy to process. Quinoa seeds are naturally covered with an unpalatable coating called Saponin which needs to be removed prior to consuming. It is a labour intensive process. Economically it made sense to make the switch. Food is food, right? So, if it was easier to produce and cheaper to trade the Spanish imports what if anything could be lost. Well, actually quite a lot. As I’ve said before, although I know there are many who despise the term, quinoa is kind of deserving of the “superfood” status. First off, it’s ridiculously versatile. You can eat the seed and the leaves as is, or turn the seeds into flour.