Quinoa, the humble grain from South America, was touted as the “wonder grain”, the “complete protein”, the “blessing of the Andes” and God-knows-what-else. This in turn spelled doom for its growers and traditional eaters. The grain became the “miraculous” food that the waist-watching and weight obsessed rich were looking for, creating a quinoa mafia and, naturally, a deprived local population in its wake.