keen on quinoa

Because I am a meatetarian, I don't waste a lot of my time eating wussy non-meats such as quinoa or carrots. However, that said, I'm exaggerating about the quinoa. And also the carrots.

Quinoa, people! You should eat it! You should be eating it right now! It doesn't matter what it is or how you pronounce it! It's the food of the gods!

Or anyway it was apparently the food of the ancient Incans who, although no longer with us, were (according the back of the quinoa box) a supremely healthy and vital people thanks primarily to all the protein they got from consuming quinoa, which Wikipedia enthusiastically (and so helpfully) assures us is a pseudocereal rather than a true cereal, all the time. Day and night. For snacks. On ice cream. Of course I'm paraphrasing, but still.

The Guatemalan and I, not being ancient Incans or knowing very much about them when it comes right down to it, had never had quinoa and were likely seriously protein-deficient up until last weekend when I went out on a limb and made the "Quinoa Cakes with Eggplant-Tomato Ragu and Smoked Mozzarella" from the February Gourmet, minus the Eggplant which is obviously a non-meat of some sort, albeit purple, and also the Smoked Mozzarella mainly for financial reasons. I also added another egg to the cakes, which upped the protein content of the meal thereby mmmhurble the proteases and mmurrrarh, you know, the polypeptides, as well as mumberha essential amino acids and whatnot. So what I mean to say is, we are healthy like the ancient Incans now. Maybe even moreso what with the extra egg and how we're still living and all.

But perhap the real moral of the story is: quinoa is awesome. Buy it. Figure out what it is. Learn how to pronounce it. Eat it. Fear it. Love it.