Chris and Melissa each became aware of quinoa about 20 years ago. Melissa learned about it from a college roommate, and Chris discovered it while researching gluten-free diets. It’s a grain that has been grown for human consumption for several thousand years, though in western diets it has remained in almost complete obscurity until it recently started to become fashionable. On a recent trip to Costco we found five products containing quinoa in a single isle, and when we got home we realized that our tortilla chips contain it as well. The New York Times is now writing about it. Then we saw a Bud Light commercial about quinoa patties. What is happening?!? Is quinoa the new kale? Next thing you know, vegetables like broccoli will be getting extreme makeovers. Of course, our greatest concern about media like the Bud Light commercial is that millions of TV viewers will not get part of the joke and will start pronouncing it queeno. This will be a distressing turn of events for the sticklers among us who are trying to uphold some standards in English (for the record, the correct pronunciation is ˈkÄ“nwä).

We are slowly introducing quinoa at home, though we aren’t too optimistic about it given Everett’s behavior at the dinner table. His first reaction to almost anything we serve is “I don’t like this”, followed by “I’m not hungry”. In addition to chips we also got some quinoa tabouli (tabbouleh) and noted that this might be a good name for a rock band or a future child. We’ll be sure to stock up on these things the next time Uncle Sean comes over!