How I'm contributing to Bolivian obesity

Yes, you read that headline properly. It's sometimes odd to consider how individual actions can have impacts on people in cities, states, and countries that we know little about and have never visited, but such is life in the increasingly flat world in which we all live. In the same way that weather conditions in Australia can have a significant impact on global food prices, seemingly innocuous decisions and behavioral shifts by American consumers can have wide-ranging effects around the world.

That was the essence of this article from the New York Times, which discussed the very strange dynamic that has taken hold in Bolivia as a result of the American consumer's growing taste for quinoa, a food that I eat quite a bit of.

With an exceptional balance of amino acids, quinoa... is virtually unrivaled in the plant or animal kingdom for its life-sustaining nutrients.

But while Bolivians have lived off it for centuries, quinoa remained little more than a curiosity outside the Andes for years, found in health food shops and studied by researchers — until recently.

Now demand for quinoa is soaring in rich countries, as American and European consumers discover the “lost crop” of the Incas. The surge has helped raise farmers’ incomes here in one of the hemisphere’s poorest countries. But there has been a notable trade-off: Fewer Bolivians can now afford it, hastening their embrace of cheaper, processed foods and raising fears of malnutrition in a country that has long struggled with it.

The shift offers a glimpse into the consequences of rising global food prices and changing eating habits in both prosperous and developing nations. While quinoa prices have almost tripled over the past five years, Bolivia’s consumption of the staple fell 34 percent over the same period, according to the country’s agricultural ministry.

The resulting quandary — local farmers earn more, but fewer Bolivians reap quinoa’s nutritional rewards — has nutritionists and public officials grasping for solutions.

Ironically enough, many Bolivian farmers are using their financial windfall from quinoa exports to buy cheap processed American foods like white bread and Coca-Cola, causing a spike in malnutrition rates.

So perversely, by looking out for my own health and nutrition, I'm in fact indirectly causing a deterioration in the health of the very people who enable my decision. Kinda sucks when you think about it, but what is the alternative? Yes, I could figure out a way to grow my own quinoa, but doing so would deprive the Bolivians of their income--it seems like the conscientious American consumer's options are to either contribute to Bolivian poverty or else contribute to Bolivian obesity. Which is better? Does it matter?

These are always difficult questions to answer, and I struggle with them a lot. Here in America, we often try to save the world, but sometimes our actions end up doing more harm than good. Does that failure mean that we're better off doing nothing, or is there value to our good intentions? I'm ambivalent... what do you think?

[New York Times]