Selects: The Quinoa Revolution! | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

happy. Saturday hi everybody Chuck here uh. we're going to go back in time today. with this selection to February 7th. 2017 the quinoa Revolution mainly. because I don't remember much about this. one and I have to listen to these again. so I'm going to listen and I hope you do. too learn everything you always wanted. to know and more about quinoa right. now welcome to stuff you should know a.

production of iHeart. [Music]. Radio hey and welcome to the podcast I'm. Josh Clark Charles W truck Bryant's. right there Jerry's right there it's a. little chilly in here so it's stuff you. should know the. podcast because it's chilly mhm that's. the cherry on top that's right. uh spoiler or not spoiler.

teaser at the end of this episode let's. say between the end and before listener. mail that's agreeable to you at the 43. minute Mark we are going to taste. soilent for the first time yeah live on. the air yeah I guess I should have. thought this through I took him out of. the fridge already so we got 43 minutes. for it to warm up should we put him back. well I wouldn't you know I wasn't going. to say anything then I was going to say. something should I put him back well.

it's probably best cold don't you think. okay well hang on. [Music]. everybody so yes we're going to try. soilent eventually in this episode. that's right I'm excited to try soent or. to talk about quinoa both okay so Chucky. just kind of gave it away alongside the. title sure we're talking about quino. today not quoa no quinoa that's right. but it's a superfood.

yes some say yeah I mean you can make a. pretty good claim that it is a superfood. and what is a superfood if not a type of. food that has a lot going on just in and. of itself yeah it's super yeah like. blueberries are super fruit or saai. berries super fruit yeah or saai berries. yeah. algae oh I didn't know algae was oh yeah. I buy that uh hemp seeds sure chia seeds.

yeah uh lot of nuts uh Ritz crackers I. don't know no those are just super super. delicious and buttery yeah with my crab. dip especially oh I'll bet one day maybe. I'll find out what you just want me to. bring you crab dip. yeah give me a cooking lesson uh so. quinoa there are at least 120. varieties and it is nothing new uh it's. been around in fact we might as well. delve into a little history here yes.

let's it's been cultivated for jeez more. than 5,000 years I saw up to 8,000 years. well it's more than 5,000 sure well I. guess we could say more than five years. right more more than the last six months. kimoa has been around on this planet. yeah and it's a andian uh plant and. specifically originated um around Lake. tiaka in Peru yeah in Bolivia in the. Alano yeah it's wonderful wonderful area.

have you been oh no but just look at. photos sure Machu picu yeah you're like. we look at that place exactly one day. maybe I'd like to go for sure uh but it. is um there is historical evidence of it. um being. domesticated like we said as maybe as. long as 8,000 years ago and they even. saw in uh in ancient tombs mhm they saw. little you know archaeological drawings. and things that what they think is. quinoa right so people were ingesting it.

and using it as a superfood way back. when yeah and the fact that it grew up. there or grows up there and not only. grows but thrives up in this High uh. Rocky I think pretty much Aid. Plateau that's also very cold it doesn't. make any sense that you'd have anything. but like alpacas and llamas up there but. in fact there's a a plant that's one of. the most nutritious Foods on the planet. that just so happens to thrive up there. in Bolivia and Peru in the highlands.

that's pretty awesome it is and so of. course they they have used this for. thousands and thousands of years um and. it wasn't it wasn't until I think the. early 20th century that it really. started to make its way for the first. time out to the United States I think. the USDA got their hands on it and tried. to get Farmers to grow it here in the. states and they said nah let's give it. another hundred years maybe a little. less yeah I mean the 21st century is.

when it really kind of became popular. right and even in the last geez mid. 2000s you can even talk about it being. trendy well supposedly the whole trend. for quino which by the way in typical. stuff you should know fashion has. already come and gone and now we're. doing an episode on it oh it's not gone. are you sure oh yeah okay well do you. know how keino hit the hit the map hit. the scene well in a lot of different. ways I assume you think it's one thing. only right.

Oprah yeah she had something to do with. it for sure she she was on some sort of. cleanse diet in 2008 and um she uh ate. quinoa and mushrooms I guess and. everybody was like what is that she's. like oh you've been calling it Canoa. it's quinoa and they said well we have. to try this now yeah well she definitely. was a factor Oprah her reach is wide it. is but it doesn't reach me are you not. an Oprah fan no I think she's fine but I.

I didn't learn about quinoa from her or. or anything else where did you learn. about quinoa then just you know I think. the first time I had it was in a. restaurant so it's to me it spread. because chefs started using it because. they watch Oprah yeah exactly chefs. don't serve anything unless patient. zero uh here in the United States um you. know talked about at least 120 varieties. you're more than likely going to be. eating the red red white and blue no red. white or black mhm uh varieties of.

quinoa and do you eat it in your home I. guess we'll get to this stuff but I'm. curious if you've cooked with it a lot. not a lot now had it here there had it. in a couple restaurants so this stuff is. uh it's known as an ancient grain but. it's not exactly a grain and it's not. exactly a cereal it's classified. technically as a pseudo cereal right. like Fruity. Pebbles that's 100% cereal baby they. just came out with cinnamon Pebbles oh I.

bet those are good yeah you could make. like cinnamon old shoes and put them in. a cereal box and it'd be good but uh. quinoa technically is a pseudo cereal um. it comes from the the goose foot plant. right that's why it's not a cereal. cereal is a grain that comes from a. grass yeah and Goose foot's not a grass. it's a plant no and it looks kind of. weedy and as we'll see later when you're. cultivating it looks alarmingly like. some other weeds so weed weed can be.

tricky with a capital W oh looks like. marijuana a little bit from afar huh. that brilliant red and Brilliant. yellow is that what marijuana looks like. when it's growing I'm not sure you know. what marijuana is huh uh I'll show you a. picture sometime okay okay um it is. labeled a whole grain though because. it's actually it fits the whole grain. definition because it is the whole grain. seed which you're eating yeah when you. talk about grains usually again you're.

you're talking about these things from. grasses like wheat right yeah and. there's such a thing as whole grain. wheat but once we process something once. we Mill it or um shell it smack it on. the bottom whatever you do to them. you're actually removing certain parts. of the grain right so with like um en. enriched white flour that's you've taken. a whole wheat grain and you've removed. the bran and The Germ and you've just.

got yourself the uh endosperm still and. the endosperm is what's used mostly for. to produce white flour yeah and that's. great it's full of like quick easily. digestible carbs but a lot of the. nutrients are lost actually not easily. digestible for many people that's true. too yeah um but a lot of the nutrients. are lost in the process so even if you. can digest it no problem you're not. getting most of the nutrients that were. there in the first place with a whole. grain it's got the brand The Germ and. the endosperm and they're all working.

together to make you vastly healthier. than you would be if you're just eating. the endosperm like you do in white white. flower yeah and um quinoa in particular. is it's really weird when you look at it. it's closer you wouldn't think so but. it's closer to Shard and beets and. spinach right the pl than it is uh. anything else yeah it's crazy so imagine. if like from spinach plants we got not. only the leaves but the also the seeds. turned out to be whole grains it that's.

what's going on it's a weird plant it is. it shouldn't grow where it grows it. shouldn't be a cereal shouldn't be a. grain it shouldn't be related to beets. it shouldn't be. delicious but it is that's right uh and. it's super super good for you like we're. saying it's a super food and um one of. the reasons and another thing that makes. it very strange is that it has a ton of. protein which is pretty unusual for a. plant to have this much protein yeah. this article made that point but I went.

and looked there's a lot of other plants. that have pretty good amounts of protein. in them what Rivals quinoa in amount. edamame black beans lima beans chickpeas. all Beat It by a mile yeah I just. thought it was weird because not only. did this article say it I ran across it. elsewhere too that they were like this. is it's amazing how much protein it has. in it it has like a decent amount. especially for a plant but just not like. eye popping or anything like that you. know you think it's hyperbole I I kind. of poo pooed that one okay yeah uh what.

it does have unless you think is not. true as well well I'll be the judge of. it uh 10 at least 10 amino acids and uh. that's good right or is it bad too I. guess it's okay no it's chalk full of. amino acids which is great for your body. uh because our body cannot make amino. acids so we have to get them from food. sources well they it can't make. essential amino acids it can make Essen. non-essential amino acids but the. essential ones we have to get from food.

and quinoa is in a very small group of. plants that are um complete sources of. protein meaning that they have all of. the essential amino acids that we need. in them yes you don't find that in. Plants very frequently no that's what. helps make it a superfood exactly yeah. uh it's not very high in calorie no. sugar no cholesterol no sodium uh what. else zinc it's got a lot of zinc has a.

lot of pottassium too apparently it has. the most potassium of any food plant. that that is around potassium is really. good at regulating blood pressure yeah. because potassium is in charge of things. like fluid retention and electrical. conduction throughout cells um I think. uh just compared to grains there are. plenty of other fruits with potassium oh. okay is that what it was yeah like. bananas are loaded with potassium are. they yeah or is that the work of.

Bess no bananas are really good for you. uh what else fiber. magnesium folate yeah that's gluten free. well that's a big one man so it's very. commonly touted as a. gluten-free um food grain um which is. good for people who have celiac disease. but apparently they've tested there's at. least what' you say 120 150 varieties uh. 120 yeah that are in like agricultural.

production right now yeah and um. somebody tested a bunch of them and they. came up with like at least four that. created a Celiac response oh really yeah. so you got to be careful for the most. part they are gluten-free but they there. are a few varieties out there that can. touch off the old Celiac response well I. think one of the deals though is we're. not seeing those in the marketplace. though which is one of the we we'll get. to it but it's one of the potential. problems is we're only eating like three. or four right of the 120 varieties yeah.

and I think those are for sure. gluten-free okay like if you go to your. grocery store right you're not going to. see 120 varieties of of the stuff I. don't know man you know yeah you're. probably right uh all right well let's. take a break and we're going to get back. and talk a little bit about cooking this. delicious stuff. [Music].

you. know you. [Music]. know so Chuck you going to lay it on. everybody how to cook. quinoa it's easy if you can cook rice. you can cook quinoa yeah and I would say. well I was say easier than rice I would. say easier than rice it doesn't stick.

like rice does yeah exactly that's. probably Rice's biggest downfall the. sticky yeah um it's also what makes it. great though too sure depending on what. kind of rice you're getting um I eat. quinoa at the house I wouldn't say a lot. but enough like every couple of weeks oh. yeah that's a lot is it yeah it is to. me so what you do is you want to rinse. it. yeah like you will some kinds of rice.

the bag you're you're buying is probably. going to say pre-rinsed or pre-washed or. something like that you want to rinse it. anyway right yeah they had this um it's. actually really good for you this. coating called uh. saponin um and despite its its great. health effects when you add water to it. it lathers up like a soap right it's. bitter yeah and in fact it it means uh. it's from the Latin sapo which is soap. so so you don't want to eat it even.

though it's good for you no the plant. produces it to keep like pests away from. it from eating it yeah so you rinse that. stuff off get quino when once you see it. it's really tiny so you want to get a. really fine strainer not like a colander. right you get a colander then all that. quinoa's going to be where my quinoa go. down the drain man I hate Mondays so get. like a sifter really fine sifter rinse. it real good until it's uh the water's. running clear and um basically cook it. like rice it's uh one part Keen wanted.

two parts water or broth well that's. what I do I use chicken broth sure you'd. be a madm is to use like water in quinoa. or veggie broth if you're you know weird. or off the. meat I'm just kidding um beef broth if. you're. gross that doesn't par well with quinoa. I could see it not I'm just not a big. beef broth guy I love I might have said. beef you did with a th yeah it was kind.

of cute be. broth be broth bar but I use chicken I. use like half so if I do the two cups. water I'll do one cup water one cup. chicken broth oh you cut your chicken. broth yeah I just kind of do half and. half I got you you stomp on it yeah uh. so then you cook it like rice like I. said you're going to boil it and then. once it gets to a boil covered up turn. it down low and wait and let it simmer. until it's all soaked up yeah and then. this article I'm not. as acquainted with cooking quinoa as you.

are but this article says that you want. to look for the spirals the seed spirals. to be prominent what's the deal with. that you'll see when you look at it like. before you cook it it looks different. than afterward and that's the easiest. way to say it like once you look it's. almost like they pop open or something. and um it it's just quite obvious it's. just big and light and fluffy you see. the little seed spiral what's neat is. and we kind of walked past it but you. said it a couple of times that that. saponin is um. uh good for you really good for you yeah.

it has some amazing properties like it's. anti-tumor anti-ulcer uh. anti-inflammatory yeah and so you have. to imagine like again that this plant is. growing in this random place where. plants aren't really supposed to grow. and it thrives there and it's full of. all these nutrients and the outer. coating is an anti-inflammatory. anti-tumor agent yeah that you wash away. yeah it's kind of sad well you could say. it sip on it later I wonder what would.

happen like how would you have to ingest. it you think like would it have any. anti-inflammatory properties if you like. drank saponin do you think or do you. need to like inject it into your eye I. don't know or mix it into a Sav maybe. rub on your skin yeah I'm not sure it's. a good question I bet people know we'll. hear about that up in Bolivia they know. uh so you can eat it in a variety of. ways you can just eat it as a side dish. like you would with rice or couscous or.

whatever mashed potatoes yeah although I. would eat the mashed potatoes you could. mix it with mashed potatoes right no I. wouldn't do that one uh one thing that. the author of this article I think it's. a Leah Hoy um she said that uh she likes. to mix it in instead of breadcrumbs into. like meatballs or Burgers sure why not. yeah a quino Burger yeah so is there. such a thing as a quinoa Burger that's. just quinoa could you make that or do. you need something to bind it like I. think you probably need binding agents.

or beef yeah beef. broths or I don't know I've never made a. quinoa burger and I don't make any kind. of veggie burger by like in my home oh. really so I wouldn't really know how to. go about that what do you do turkey. burgers or I do turkey turkey burgers. are pretty good depending on the brand. some are just like what is this texture. yeah I mean I make them myself with my. own little recipe oh but um that's just. cuz Emily eat beef beef mhm so uh I've.

gotten so into the turkey burger that I. don't even really I mean I like I'll. have a beef burger out right never at. home you and I are sympatico on the home. burger cooking tip yeah do you grill or. do You Skillet Foreman Grill oh yeah. it's pretty great sit there watch a you. watch that grease strip out of the front. uhuh and I've noticed many times like I. will be zoned out. ruing grease out of my mouth uh so.

here's my favorite quinoa dish and I got. it from a restaurant in New York uh that. I can't remember but there all kinds of. variations but I have it um I cook it. and then put it in the fridge and chill. it like overnight okay so in the summer. I will get that cold quinoa and then. dice up like some cucumber and some red. onion okay and I mean kind of anything. you want like that fits a salad summer. salad okay like orange pepper like.

crunchy green pepper or roasted red. pepper oh yeah that's good garlic throw. some pine nuts in there I wish it were. summer right now like you get some basil. some fresh herbs that's the way to go. man yeah like anything that strikes your. fancy maybe a little lemon juice little. apple cider vinegar but the base of it. is H quinoa yeah and you just mix up. anything that you kind of you know might. add some texture like that Crunch and um. and serve it alongside like a burger. instead of fries oh yeah it's really.

really good sounds and you know me I'm. not I'm not into healthy foods like that. a lot right which means it's good which. means it's really good yeah and packed. with protein don't forget that's right. and it's a complete source of protein so. that's my or maybe some dried cranberry. or golden raisins I'm not big on that. kind of stuff in the salad oh yeah I. know a lot of people like it not me yeah. no I don't love the golden raisins but I. do like the cranberry do you yeah yeah. yeah I think it's nice uh all right so.

that's Chuck's recipe of the week that. was pretty good we'll do that every week. no matter what the topic is what are you. gonna come up with for the Tarter grade. episode oh just you wait um so here's. the deal with quinoa it's gotten really. trendy so in 2007 the United States was. importing uh 7.3 million pounds of. quinoa right. 2012 they were imported 57 million. pounds and who God knows what it is this.

year you know a lot of that was the. direct result of a single person of what. of Oprah yeah it all comes down to Oprah. no there was this dude um he was a un. development worker from Bolivia who'd. moved to California and um he had. obviously grown up at least familiar. with quinoa if not eating quinoa uh his. name was Sergio Nunes diarco and he he.

saw that quino was starting to catch on. a little bit I guess he saw that episode. of Oprah yeah so he went back to Bolivia. and he found that there were only a few. indigenous producers who were putting. out like retail sized bags of quinoa. yeah so he went around and he basically. created a co-op out of all the. indigenous farmers who create who grow. quinoa in Bolivia yeah and made the. supply from them reliable enough and big. enough to to supply industry abroad.

around the world this guy basically was. the flash point for the kenwa explosion. he helped it happen and he made sure. that it was based on the work of the. people who were originally cultivating. quinoa right yeah which is a big one. yeah he went from in 2005 he sold. $25,000 worth uh through his company and. these days he's selling about $26. Million worth annually from his own. facility and about 40 million from other.

facilities yep so he basically went. around to them and said hey these weeken. farmers markets are cute but how would. you like to be a part of the industrial. food supply yeah you put down that pan. flute we're talking business here they. play the Pan Flute yeah those andian. Highlanders they love that they love. that junk is that where zamfir is from. no I think Zam fear is I think he's. Mediterranean I wanted to say Greek yeah. I'm pretty sure okay I don't know if I'm. getting he and Yanni confused though oh.

yeah maybe we are they they seem like. they probably at least go bowling. together Yanni didn't play the pan flu. though did he no no okay samam fear is. definitely Master of the pan flu well of. course you can't call yourself that on a. CD unless Oprah has said so right and it. has the stamp of approval so um the. price has really gone up too uh as a. result and it was not small um for a lot. of years one metric ton was about $500. and in 2010 that was.

$1,300 so that's almost threefold and. again that was six years seven almost s. years ago yeah it kept going up too I. think it peaked in 2012 really yeah it. was it the price went up quite a bit so. you would think that's great these. farmers are making a ton of money now. right yes apparently I don't know where. it started but. somebody created um some I I guess. somebody wrote an article or started. digging around and they said hey. everybody you guys are eating all this.

quino guess what you did you drove up. prices so much that the very indigenous. people who have been cultivating this. for thousands of years can't afford it. anymore so suck on that hipster right. like the people of Fiji are exporting. Fiji Water but they're all uh don't have. clean drinking water themselves that. kind of same thing right it's basically. an American Pastime to take hipsters. down a peg isn't it is it it seems like. anything hipsters like everybody goes to.

a lot of trouble to dig around and find. what's wrong with it yeah like the one. thing they can trace back there's got to. be Blood on the hands somewhere right uh. all right well let's take a break and. we'll talk a little bit about um what. this all means and whether or not that's. even true right after this. [Music].

all right so uh if it's being produced. um in the Andes and prices are going up. you would think that at some point. people in the United States might try. and take a stab at it and that's exactly. what happened uh and is happening uh and. you sent this great article is quinoa. California Farmers new kale because kale.

had a similar explosion uh in popularity. you know over the past few years Kale's. so hot right now yeah I think kale is. out now yeah or at least made fun of I. think for being to Hipster and hot yeah. I think the hipsters kind of chewed that. up and spit it out it's still great I. know people just I hate all that stuff. yeah you know really yeah just like. what's trending and what's not and what. we think is cool let's write about it.

right and I read this really interesting. article I think it was a Mother Jones. writer Like A Mother Jones a writer who. basically said like hey dudes all of. this stuff that you know is suddenly. like the hot new superfood yeah it's. nich um food marketing it's the same. thing as like Oreos coming out with a. new flavor every like couple months that. you got to go try or something like that. yeah like you're just a sheep for kale. but but yeah but but geared toward. toward people who don't eat junk food.

but it's the same exact thing so don't. be a chump yeah or at least don't get on. your high horse about the other stuff. being Mass marketed stuff or being eaten. by idiots and saps and simpletons right. so the thing is the thing that made it. even even worse though was the idea that. like the huge demand and the expanded. market for quinoa that was largely found. in the United States was directly. responsible for pricing indigenous.

farmers who were growing that quinoa out. of it right so they weren't even eating. it was the problem and as well. supposedly right and and what they found. was that one they they couldn't afford. it they've been priced out. yeah or they were making the decision to. where yeah they're making more money now. but they would rather sell all their. quinoa and buy less expensive less. nutrient dense food for their families. so the the very people producing quinoa. were not only couldn't afford it they.

also were being malnourished as a result. of this quinoa explosion right a it was. a big deal it made a lot of people. second guess it uh feel pretty bad about. themselves and I also guarantee it had a. negative impact on the quinoa Market as. well sure which would directly affect. the farmers but what you dug up though. on this um NPR's the. salt I guess blog their food blog yeah. there was a story about it attached to.

it as well it was pretty eye opening. yeah these dudes got together and they. um were trying to get to kind of the. root of all this and so they got a data. source uh en nah it's the national. survey of Peru that they carry out uh. every year MH um about just Peruvian. households and all kinds of stuff data. that they're collecting but one of them. is food and there are 22,000 randomly. selected households so they got 10 years. worth of this data covering from before. the quinoa boom um a few years before.

through the quino boom so they could. kind of do a good comparison right and. they split the households into three. groups uh those who grow and eat quinoa. those who eat it but don't grow it and. those who neither grow it nor eat it. they say yeah I guess there's the final. household is people that pronounce it. quoa there's like one household in Peru. it's like what is this stuff yeah uh and. they all all three showed a clear rise. in their welfare which they measured as.

a total value of goods consumed as that. price of quinoa Rose um and apparently. that reflected in the increased living. standards in Peru as a whole too right. so at the height of that boom uh the. welfare of The Growers increased more. rapidly than the other two groups though. right which you would you know that. makes sense yeah and so you can they. they basically tracked a direct. correlation between the queno boom. around the world and a rise in the uh.

household welfare of quinoa Farmers back. in Peru yeah so they conclusively proved. pretty much that there there was no um. that these Farmers weren't too poor to. afford quinoa but that other one was. still left standing right right the idea. that they were selling all all their. quinoa but then they were still. malnourished because they were buying. less nutritionally dense food yeah and. that apparently they managed to disprove.

as well yeah at least that's what. they're saying in this paper I mean. we're not saying this is one 100%. evidence but at least this is what they. dug out after pouring over these 10. years worth of of studies right uh they. said this guy Andrew Stevens a doctorial. candidate um focused on specifically the. puno region in the Andes which grows. about 80% of all the quinoa in Peru and. he said this is a it's a cultural and. nutritionally important food but it's.

not I think the gist was people are. trying to make it out to be like this is. what they subsist on every day and they. can't afford to eat it right and he said. this is actually a pretty small part of. their diet overall and they're actually. eating more quinoa than ever before in. that region that grows the most that was. pretty surprising so uh it said they did. not come uh cut back their consumption. between 2004 and 2012 despite a. four-fold price increase they've seen no.

signs of change in calories proteins or. carbohydrates in the diet across Peru as. a whole right so they kind of debunked. it. yeah pretty cool hipsters Rejoice they. they shall rejoice but um there is still. some outstanding problems right sure so. like you said it was a you said that guy. mentioned it was a culturally important. food so much so that Bolivia um in its. drafted 2009 constitution in Shrine. quinoa is part of their um food.

sovereignty which is their right to. protect culturally important food yeah. like hey you're coming in here and. you're basically taking this and now. you're going to grow it all over the. world right and they recognized the. importance of quinoa for a very long. time there was apparently a Colorado. researcher who went to uh Bolivia in. 1986 and was shot dead trying to smuggle. quinoa seeds out of the country yeah and. I guess some from Colorado eventually. got him out because Colorado State.

University patented a hybrid quinoa in. 1994 based on Bolivian seeds and the. government of Bolivia called them biop. Pirates whoa yeah that's not something. you want leveled at you no not by. Bolivia uh the other thing too and I. think you sent me this was that. um because there's more basically. there's sort of a land grab going on. yeah this is where I was going in Peru. where uh all of a sudden they realized.

that you know before when it wasn't. worth that much money they I mean sure. they were producing it but it wasn't. like it is now so all these people are. saying wait this this land that was once. unused like is anyone claiming it and. they're sort of a rush to claim these. lands well there was um fighting going. on yeah there was violence that broke. out in February of I think 2015 maybe. for sorry 2014 where um one guy got his. arm blown off by Dynamite yeah during. this battle of among hundreds of farmers. for some land that had been sitting.

there abandoned for like decades and. part of the problem is when you're doing. uh good agricultural practices what did. we talk about no till farming in no I. was thinking that too I can't remember. we've definitely talked a lot about that. um and when you're using good. agricultural practices one of the main. things you want to do is let um Fields. lay phow for a year or season at a time. yeah and they're not doing that anymore. in the Andes and again this is really.

really fragile crop land that they're. growing this stuff in so they're not. letting it lay phow any longer and. they're also using llamas less yeah and. llamas and quinoa go together like rice. and beans which by the way is another. complete um protein food but it's not. just a single food so you can't call it. a super food yeah yeah uh man what was. that episode it's totally on the tip of. my tongue we talk a lot about No till no.

till. farming I can't remember I want to say. had something to do with the Dust Bowl. but we didn't do one on the Dust Bowl. yet we did we did one on the dust bow. and desertification maybe it was the. Dust Bowl yeah good one um yeah so the. llamas that's one of the big issues. right is that they're not letting them. poop everywhere well they're not they're. not llama farming like they used to. llamas use a lot of grazing land and. they're like we can use that instead to. to um grow quinoa cuz quinoa is more.

valuable than llamas right but llamas. again and quinoa go together like rice. and beans and llama poop is almost like. it's designed or tailored to fertilize. quinoa they started to use sheep poop. instead I guess imported sheep poop and. it allows a lot more pests and invasive. weeds than llama poop does right when. llama poop is fertilizing so the whole. ecosystem is definitely being um altered. yeah and not necessarily in good ways.

because of this huge demand and this. huge influx of cash it's basically More. Money More Problems yeah the the altop. Planos people are finding out it's so. weird or not weird but kind of sad that. you can't you know it can't just be a. success. story nous you know gota have the good. with the bad I guess in the long run. they're also worried that um I was. talking about all those different. varieties um I saw the 120 but it says. here there could be up to thousands of.

different varieties yeah and farmers are. abandoning most of these to concentrate. on the ones that they can sell to you. know ship out to export to American. markets right or I guess just you know. not just America I think Europe is. eatting the stuff like crazy too are. they yeah but um it says that those. varieties are this guy says that um. they're the future of quinoa because. they can adapt to things like climate. change and if you narrow the varieties.

down to a certain few and they don't. adapt then you're kind of screwed yeah. you're so if you have 3,000 to choose. from to try to adapt to to changing. climate then yeah you're way better off. so crop diversity is pretty important. but yeah that's getting erased as well. yeah well they're trying to encourage it. uh with these andian farmers at least uh. they are working with Bolivia and Peru. to develop internal markets for these. threatened varieties uh like with School. food programs and stuff like not. necessarily to sell but to use like.

within the country at hospitals and. schools they said they've been fairly. successful with some of that stuff so um. hopefully that continues see that to me. that's what government subsidies are for. stuff like that for like small. indigenous farmers who are. protecting thousand year old varieties. of crops that are part of the. cultural um fabric of a a country yeah. and for the future for all sure they are.

growing in California though that. article you sent this dude is growing it. in in the Sonoran Desert crazy in the. Imperial Valley below sea level MH in. like one of the hottest places in North. America yeah they're growing quinoa yeah. and well part of the problem is quinoa. is very closely related I think it's in. the same genus as um something called. Lamb's quarters yeah that's the weed. which doesn't really matter up in alop. Plano but in California Lamb's quarters.

is a toxic toxic plant to livock which. might accidentally graze on it because. they're not thinking about that kind of. stuff and it also um carries a virus. that kills alala which is very much. grown in California to feed that. livestock man so there's it's a it's. weird it's a complex. amazing plant that shouldn't exist quino. yeah maybe that'll be the title quinoa. colon complex more complex than you.

think oh that's a good one or maybe it. should say well never mind I'll figure. that out uh or should we just brainstorm. some more on show titles let's do it are. we going to try the soilent yes let's um. and then do listener mail yeah let's do. that all. [Music]. right so uh here we are we're going to. try this yeah soilent it's in a white. bottle we caught a lot of flack about. not having tried it and still done.

something I'm like well here we go then. I'm not iridescent but I've done an. episode on iridescence give me a. break people I think you should probably. shake well right I think so I don't know. we got to go back and listen to the. episode again it's been a while people. also thought that that was a sponsored. Episode by soyland and I was like I. think we said enough bad things about. the taste that you should have figured. out that it was. not all right here we go So This Is Us. trying soilent we also want to say.

thanks again to Don Kent for sending. this in it smells like a oh that's a. nice kind of a nice smell what does that. smell like smells like cereal milk we. got that a lot a lot of people said it. smelled like or it tastes like Cheerios. milk that's totally what it smells like. can we say Cheerios or is this an. episode for Cheerios now all right I'm. going to you should we do at the same. time two. one I thought we were chugging the whole. thing no oh that's that's not bad it it.

is it's not bad at all 100% Cheerio. cereal milk yeah I think I I would have. come up with that even if somebody. hadn't said it this is. good yeah I mean it's sort of bland it's. not it's not nearly a sweet it's not. like a honeynut Cheerio milk no that's. true uh or cinnamon toast crunch milk. that's not bad I was dreading this I. thought it was going to be awful from. all the comments but that's not bad at. all I like it I can see how you would. kind of kind of start to Crave it cuz. it's got. that like almost a fatty mouth feel to.

it you know what I mean yeah like really. gets on the tongue huh all right well. there it is I should probably stop it's. pretty it's got a lot of calories in it. yeah I mean that's 20% of your daily. nutrition well uh thanks again to Don. Kent thanks again to everybody who. wrongly called us out for doing an ad. for soilent the aftertaste is a little. bit like milk of magnesia I'm not. getting that like Milana yeah I know you. mean kind of chalky I don't have.

that uh oh if you want to know more. about soet go listen to soil episode in. the meantime if you want to know more. about quinoa type that word q i n o a. into the search bar howstuffworks.com. and since I said search bar it's time. for more. soilent I mean it's time for listener. now all right I'm going to call yeah I. definitely don't like the aftertaste. it's of sort of chalky up on my throat. and tongue I kind of like this stuff I.

like food more but that's not bad sure. like if somebody said should I drink. soil it I'd say why. not all right I'm going to call this uh. just a nice email from this lovely. Australian woman hey guys it's been a. long time listener first time writer uh. currently living in Sydney Australia. though I grew up in Tennessee and uh now. I'm a Florida resident all over the. place wow so maybe she's not a. I've been listening to y'all y'all since.

I was in college at uh utk goals and I. even brought you along with me while. spending a year living in France if you. do end up reading this on the air which. I don't expect uh I would be so thrilled. if you gave a shout out to my little. sister lb currently in Portland all. right what's up lb she just used a. little reverse psychology on you there. yeah she did uh anytime we make a road. trip we put on stuff you should know uh. which insights a groan from her every. time it's it's the chitchat that bugs. her we just gave her a shout out yeah.

well she's not she's not the only person. to feel that way all right to get to the. point I was listening to the dictators. episode and was so excited to hear you. talking about Lucius Cornelius sua uh in. fact that's my grandmother's maiden name. we pronounce it uh Suella but uh whoever. knows if that's the true pronounciation. uh her family is from Southern Italy and. immigrated from Naples about 100 years. ago she recently went on a trip to Italy. and studied up on her ancestor solah MH.

uh and even visited a lot of the sites. inscribed with his name that's pretty. cool it's amazing to see a piece of your. family history show up on your favorite. podcast even if it is about dictators it. gave me a chuckle thanks for keeping me. entertained this recently caught up uh. to all the episodes on iTunes I know I. know there are much more yeah on your uh. many more on your website wow she is a. listener huh she is and that's Sarah. right now in Sydney thanks a lot Sarah. appreciate that um so wait is she from. Australia or she's just living in.

Australia now I think she's just living. there okay got it uh if you want to let. us know about your world travels All. That Jazz uh like Sarah did you can send. us an email the stuff podcast at. howstuffworks.com and as always join us. at our home on the web stuff you should. know.com. [Music]. stuff you should know is a production of. iHeart radio for more podcasts my iHeart. Radio visit the iHeart Radio app Apple. podcasts or wherever you listen to your. favorite shows.

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