The Amaranth Solution: How an Aztec Superfood Could Help Mexico Fight Obesity Kate Kilpatrick - Al Jazeera
go to original August 17, 2015

Workers at Bio-Gramin, an amaranth factory in Santiago Tulyehualco, Mexico, prepare churritos. (Bénédicte Desrus/Al Jazeera America)

They’re traditional sweets, made from popped amaranth seeds, specked with peanuts and raisins, offered in flavors that run from coconut to Neapolitan, choco-mint to strawberry. The alegrías (which means “joy”) catch customers’ eyes with snow-cone-bright colors and cotton candy pastels.

So it’s hard to align this sweet snack with its culinary history, based on an ancient grain believed to have been used in Aztec sacrifices of young virgins. The amaranth was mixed with honey, sculpted into deities and then broken up and received much like Holy Communion, with worshippers eating the “bones” and “meat” of the gods.

...Mexico has assumed the dubious distinction of being one of the fattest countries in the world and the No. 1 per capita consumer of soda, and it isn’t hard to see why. Coca-Cola and Cheetos have penetrated every corner of the country, from Tijuana to Chiapas, where vendors hawking Mexico’s famous vitamin T (tacos, tortas and tamales) and convenience stores stocked with comida chatarra (junk food) are seemingly infinite and omnipresent.

In the face of a global nutrition transition — from traditional-agriculture-based diets to what obesity experts have labeled an obesigenic and toxic environment, the amaranth producers, or amaranteros, of Tulyehualco hold firmly to their community tradition while innovating to meet market demands. Amaranth, they believe, represents an opportunity for Mexicans to recover their traditional diet and reclaim their cultural identity.

Read the rest at Al Jazeera

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