Did you know that 2013 is the International Year of Quinoa? That’s right, due to a resolution adopted by the United Nations General Assembly last March.
What is it? The UN resolution notes that it is a “natural food high in nutritional value.” According to the master plan for the international year, it’s “the only plant food that contains all the essential amino acids, vitamins and trace elements and is also gluten free.” And apparently it can be grown in a variety of conditions, so it’s now grown in many different locations from where it started in the Andes region. Thus the attention being called to it by the United Nations, as a crop with potential to help countries struggling with food insecurity.
You can learn more about it by searching databases for articles such as “Nutrition facts and functional potential of quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa willd.), an ancient Andean grain: A review” (Journal Of The Science Of Food And Agriculture, 2010, vol.90:no.15, pp.2541-2547), “‘Mother Grain’ quinoa packed with protein, nutrients” (Environmental Nutrition, 2005, vol.28:no.3, p.8), and “The top-secret superfood” (Men’s Health, 2007, vol.22:no.4, pp.106-108).
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