My quinua eating habits

Having discussed the ethics of consuming quinua in the US/UK yesterday, I thought it would make

sense to talk about the reality of eating quinua in Andahuaylillas.

Quinua is a fantastically cheap protein here. It costs 7 soles a kilo. In Tacna (the other JVC site which is on the coast) it costs 16 soles. It's so much cheaper here because quinua is produced here. I don't mean it's produced here the way that people in Massachusetts can say “cranberries are produced here.” I mean quinua is grown right here in this valley. The picture of quinoa to the right was taken less than a mile from our house. So quinua is cheap because people here in Andahuaylillas grow it.

Pouring the quinoa so that the wind
carries away impurities like rocks
Source

I get my quinua from Sra. Cenovia. She lives two blocks up the street from us. I prefer her quinua because it's been machine cleaned. Harvesting quinua is a multi-step process. During the process it's possible for small stones to slip in amongst the quinua. The final step of the process, when quinua is poured from out 3 feet up down to a cloth on the ground, is meant to use the wind to remove the rocks, but sometimes very small bits of sand/dirt still end up in the product on the shelf. Eating quinua with those rocks in it is very unpleasant and leads to a feeling like you digestive system went on strike (I speak from personal experience). To avoid that feeling you have to sort the quinua by hand, which is boring and takes a very long time. But Sra. Cenovia's quinua is rock-free!

I've been eating quinua for breakfast. I cook it up in water (you cook it like pasta, but it takes longer to boil). A few minutes before the quinua is done cooking I strain out the water and replace it with a banana-milk smoothie. The result is a delicious, protein-rich substitute for the abominable oatmeal we buy. It's well worth taking 7 soles out of my stipend each month to support a personal quinua stash.

I've also used quinua in baked goods (found a recipe for banana-quinua muffins in Forks over Knives), and made very success spaghetti and quinua-balls dish. Peruvians make quinua into all sorts of things. There's a friend patty called toreja that's usually made with grated vegetables and quinua (served over rice, of course). There's even a drink – chicha de quinua – that is made with corn and quinua. Sr. Ana, the baker, has been eating a lot more quinua lately, and told me all about the ways she sneaks it into her 3^rd grade son's diet when I stopped by the oven to drop off some bread to bake.

torreja de quinua
Source

Also, you may be wondering why I've been spelling quinua with a u instead of an o as the penultimate letter. While quinoa is the spelling most used in the US, in Cusco it's spelled “quinua.” But before you go boasting to all your friends that you know “the real way to spell quinua,” you should know that the different spellings is probably is due variations in Quechua between Bolivia and Peru. My guess is that Bolivians (who produce most of the quinua going to the US) spell it with the o.