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Quinoa in the Po Valley Serendipity at work during play

9 June 2025

A wide view of the flat landscape of the Agrilocanda val Campotto. A line of trees stretches towards and barn and the horizon, with massed blue-grey clouds in the sky.

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A man, balding with a beard, in a green T-shirt, sits on a bench in front of brickwork and a windowsill with flower box. Trees are reflected in the glass of the window. He is looking straight at the camera.
Alessandro Biavati, chef.
Quite by chance, I booked a brief cycling holiday at an agriturismo based on a farm that is home to Quin Italia, an enterprise that aims to be the first supply chain for certified organic quinoa grown in Italy. The food at the agriturismo was excellent, as it usually is, but there were only two items on the menu that featured quinoa: a beer and a plate of deep fried croquettes that owed more to chickpeas than to quinoa. That was just one of the points I raised with Alessandro Biavati, chef and part-owner of Agrilocanda val Campotto.

Notes

  1. Both the agriturismo and Quin Italia offer a lot more information on their websites.
  2. Just in case anyone in Italy wants to support cycling, here’s the website for FIAB.
  3. There’s a transcript, of course, with thanks to supporters of the podcast.

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A quinoa dilemma

12 June 2025

Quinoa is not a staple at our house. I like it a lot, but I don’t make it that often. If I did, I would probably already have negotiated a way through the ethical maze that confronts me. Should I buy quinoa from its homeland in South America, and if so should it be the […]

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Eat This Podcast has been going since March 2013. That’s a long time in podcast world. In that time, it has twice been nominated for a James Beard Award, although it remains a labour of love rather than a search for glory.

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