Quinoa’s Dark Secret

Health food lovers—especially vegans and vegetarians—go nuts for the South American grain-like seed. And with good reason: Quinoa is one of the most nutrient-dense foods on the planet, packed with dietary fiber, vitamins E and B2 and iron, and low in fat. It might be the closest thing we have to a “perfect food.”

Which made a story about quinoa and those who grow it, printed earlier this month in The Guardian, unpalatable for many. Global demand (driven mostly by Western countries) has reached such highs that Bolivia, the largest producer of quinoa, now exports nearly all of the staple crop. The increasingly globalized market has driven the domestic price of the quinoa so high that the people who grow it can't afford to eat it. As a result, Andean farmers and their families face chronic malnutrition.