6 reasons why you should quit quinoa
Quinoa is hip and happening, and if you’re even remotely up to date, you eat it as if your life depends on it. But actually, you’d be better off quitting it, because it’s too expensive, bad for the environment and, if you’re unlucky, it’ll give you turbo farts.
Quinoa is far too expensive
Quinoa is often eaten as a healthy and trendy substitute for pasta or rice. But when you calculate the price, it comes to about 1 cent per gram. Compare that with rice: 400 grams for 75 cents, or pasta, 500 grams for 79 cents, and you know enough: that trendy quinoa is an expensive joke.
Quinoa flies all over the world
Quinoa is grown in temperate climates. It can grow very well in the Netherlands, for example, and quinoa is also grown here on a small scale. But most quinoa comes from South America. That’s quite a lot of food miles for your organic little grains.
Small farmers miss out
Quinoa suddenly became hugely popular and therefore much more expensive. At first, small farms in South America benefited from this a little: slightly more profit from their harvest. But large companies got into growing and selling quinoa, and as a result smaller businesses miss out.
There’s no quinoa left to be found in South America
Domestic markets for quinoa, in Bolivia and Peru for example, are suffering from the shortage. In the supermarket there, quinoa has become so expensive that the average person can no longer afford it. The story that Peruvian quinoa farmers are starving because hipsters eat all the quinoa right in front of them isn’t entirely true. Those farmers are probably happy to be able to eat something other than those same little grains for once.
Quinoa isn’t a superfood at all
Hip? New? Not really. It’s been around for four thousand years and has therefore been eaten by people for centuries. Although quinoa contains quite a lot of amino acids, it’s nowhere near as much as is often claimed. Compared with chicken breast, tuna or eggs, the wonder grain comes up rather short. Experts say it fits into a healthy diet, but eating only quinoa won’t get you there.
Quinoa puts your gut into turbo mode
Some people react badly to quinoa. Their intestines, that is: stomach pain, rumbling guts and turbo farts—the effect is unbelievable. How can that be? Personal trainer Bram says online: ‘It may be that your body doesn’t accept it.’ So those stomach cramps are a signal, and that means: quit quinoa.
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