We have to give McDonald’s Germany credit for not acting as though they discovered quinoa. In a recent spot for their new Vegggie Clubhouse, they give a brief history on quinoa, explaining that it began more than 6,000 years ago in the Andes when the Incas cultivated the grain. Since then, they said, quinoa has been a staple in South America.
It’s at this exact moment when things get a little WTF. That’s when an Incan man dressed like royalty pops up out of the ground bearing a very anachronistic looking plate of food. Whoever did this photoshop and got it through is a legend.
Perú21 reports that Ministra de Comercio Exterior y Turismo Magali Silva said that this is the first time McDonald’s is using Peruvian quinoa. Compared to last year, Peruvian quinoa has had a 14.1% increase in consumption in Germany. The video also explains that quinoa has been used by astronauts in space since the 1990s, which must be why this astronaut put quinoa in her space taco.
For more context on how the boom in world demand for quinoa is affecting Peruvian and Bolivian farmers in the altiplano, check out this analysis published in the Andean Information Network.