At a party last week, I was served a bowl of salad that contained a strange, new grain. “Quinoa!” said the host. “Highly nutritious. From South America. The new health food miracle,” he added. Then, another guest on the table commented, “Oh, it’s the food for the rich in New York. Ruined the Bolivian farmers. They, who grew the grain and ate it for 7,000 years, can no longer afford it.’

Illustration/Devdutt Pattanaik