National Quinoa Day is a holiday observed annually on January 16th. It celebrates a food that scientists have recently labeled a “superfood,” meaning it offers maximum nutritional benefits without delivering a lot of calories.

Quinoa is a flowering plant from the amaranth family and is grown as a crop for its edible seeds. Therefore, it’s not technically a grain but is instead classified as a “pseudo-grain.”

It’s eaten the same way grains are and has a nutritional profile very similar to many grains. This food has become increasingly popular over the last few years, especially among those who are health-conscious.

The History of National Quinoa Day

Quinoa is a plant that grew in the Andes and originated in the area surrounding Lake Titicaca in Bolivia and Peru. It has been cultivated for over 5,000 years, making it one of the original ancient “grains.” By the time the Spanish arrived, quinoa was a plant that was distributed not only within Incan territory but also to other native Indian cultures.

Now that we’ve covered the history of quinoa, we would like to now switch our attention to National Quinoa Day. At least, that is what we would have liked to have done. Unfortunately, we were unable to uncover the origin of this holiday. We simply couldn’t find the origin of this holiday or when exactly it started.

Fun Facts About Quinoa

This holiday article simply wouldn’t be complete without listing some of the facts that we’ve learned about quinoa while doing research. Let’s take a look at the following facts before we find out how to celebrate this holiday.

• One cup of quinoa has 5 grams of fiber. A cup of oatmeal only has 4 grams of fiber.
• Quinoa contains all nine essential amino acids that are used to make proteins.
• It’s a good source of phosphorus, magnesium, manganese, iron, thiamine, and folate.
• Quinoa requires half the cooking time of other whole grains.
• Quinoa can be used to replace rice in Spanish Rice recipes.
• This “grain” can be used as a replacement for oatmeal.

Observing National Quinoa Day

Quinoa is a very versatile food, so we encourage everyone to try their hand at making some of the delicious quinoa recipes that are out there for National Quinoa Day. Some of the recipes we’ve seen include Quinoa Egg Bowls, Turkey Quinoa Meatloaf, Lentil Soup with Quinoa, and Breakfast Omelets with Quinoa. We would also encourage people to spread the news about this food and this holiday by using the hashtag #NationalQuinoaDay on social media.