Is a good thing to eat a bad thing to buy? That\u2019s essentially the quinoa quandary that foodies, advocates of healthier eating, and social activists are facing. There are no easy answers.<\/p>\n

Before we get too far into the discussion it might help to know what quinoa is and how to pronounce it. It\u2019s \u201ckeen-wha.\u201d It\u2019s a great Scrabble word, but, more importantly, it\u2019s a “superfood”– a grain with very high nutritional value. It\u2019s been around for 3,000 years, when the Incas first cultivated it and treated it as a sacred grain. It\u2019s still mostly grown in the Andes\u2014predominantly in Bolivia.<\/p>\n

And there\u2019s the crux of the problem. In the past decade, American and European chefs, as well as health food advocates, have \u201cdiscovered\u201d quinoa and have been adding it to their cuisine. As a result, quinoa\u2014still a relatively rare commodity, which is not grown in the U.S.\u2014has entered the American culinary vocabulary. And as its popularity grows, the law of supply and demand<\/p>\n

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