Much Ado About Quinoa

Quinoa (pron.: /ˈkiːnwɑː/ or /kɨˈnoʊ.ə/, Spanish: quinua, from Quechua: kinwa), a species of goosefoot (Chenopodium), is a grain-like crop grown primarily for its edible seeds. It is a pseudocereal rather than a true cereal, or grain, as it is not a member of the true grass family. As a chenopod, quinoa is closely related to species such as beets, spinach and tumbleweeds.

Quinoa has been a staple for thousands of years for the people living in the Andean regions of Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia and Peru. Of recent vintage has been its appearance as an edible seed emulating cereal grains in North America. Where, in its incarnation as one of the 'ancient grains', it has achieved wide popularity. It represents a healthy, nutritional choice, offering helpings of lysine, calcium, phosphorus and iron.

And the shocking news out of rabbinical councils is that this seed that is not a grain is held to be non-kosher. Non-kosher, that is, for Passover. "We can't certify quinoa because it looks like a grain and people might get confused", is the scholarly opinion of the kosher division of the Orthodox Union. This critical information has dreadfully upset the orthodox Jewish community, and it has created an understandable backlash.

Many Jews, it would seem, have developed a dependency on quinoa as a grain substitute during the eight-day holiday of Passover, when leavened products are forbidden, in memory of the passage out of Egypt when Jewish slaves were liberated by Moses, and were unable to cook anything but unleavened products on the hot desert stones, baked by the burning rays of the sun. Matzoh remains the 'bread' of choice during Passover.

And it is a decidedly acquired taste. Looked on with fond appreciation by those whose childhood memories of grandparents presiding over the Passover seders imbue matzoh with special powers of blood and belonging. The memory-and-taste uninitiated can be forgiven for thinking otherwise. Does this photograph exemplify the delight someone unaccustomed to the taste evinces while eating matzoh?

Amazingly, the 7.8 million citizens of Israel eat more quinoa than all of Europe manages to do. "Perfect for Passover" recipes for Passover are available everywhere. "Listen, give me a topic in which there isn't a conflict. Since it appeared on the scene, it is seen as being absolutely kosher for Passover. It's a seed", commented Vancouver's Temple Shalom's Rabbi Philip Bregman.

The Kashrut Council of Canada, however, as the country's largest kosher certification agency, begs, officially, to differ saying only that "there are differing opinions". While a kosher-certifying agency based in Baltimore, Star K, has decided on the basis of subjecting the seed to a series of leavening tests, that it is appropriate for Passover use.

For its part, the Bible lists wheat, spelt, barley, rye and oats as grains to be avoided during Passover for those who pay attention to such trivia. However, according to Canada's Kashruth Council, not only does the seed look like the banned grains, it happens to grow on long stalks like other forbidden grains.

This nonsense is in the grand old tradition of GIMMEEABREAK!