The quinoa case: considerations of food globalization

Abstract

Based on the quinoa case in Bolivia, this article brings an approach about food globalization and its consequences. Using this product as a particular example of the food transcultural exchange, data will be analised from the 2011’s The New York Times report and the 2014’s infographic by FAO, based on Enrico Avitabile’s study, a doctoral student in environmental and development economics, and linked to historical and social factors along with food studies concepts. This article seeks to discuss this case and by that, to expose the paradoxal relations connected to the food area. Having the consequences of the global exposure of this product at the center of the discussion, some ways to diminish the negative effects of this process are involved with the presence of civil movements, as the slow food movement, and public policies of development of the domestic markets where the product is traditionally consumed.