Quick Tips

Everyone is constantly on the look-out for the next superfood. Chronically impatient and eternal suckers for a quick fix to all our problems, all of us — we’re talking everybody the world over — seem to be perpetually seeking the next best health food. That miracle pill in the form of a high-protein food that has zero carbs, will lower our cholesterol, give us energy, fight disease and better be gluten-free. Every month a new superfood seems to drop from the sky, and media and consumers alike eat it up without question, hailing the new berry, seed or obscure vegetable as the best thing since sliced bread, until the next superfood hits the scene.

In recent years, it’s been all about quinoa. Before the mid 2000s, no one was really paying attention to this ancient Andean plant that has been consumed for thousands of years. A complete protein — which means it contains all nine of the essential amino acids — quinoa answered everyone’s low-carb, high-protein prayers. When the world turned its back on gluten, quinoa (which is gluten-free) was right there waiting for the spotlight. According to Google Trends, quinoa’s star just keeps soaring.

Beyond quinoa, a whole range of superfoods keep breaking through from health food obscurity to mainstream. What’s the next best miracle food?

Chia seeds are a worthy contender. They’ve been growing in popularity since 2009, and made a huge leap onto the world’s stage in 2013. They’re a good source of omega three fats and fiber, and unlike flax, another popular seed, they don’t have to be ground up before eating. They’re showing up in drinks, in baked goods and puddings.

Acai was an early superfood that saw enormous popularity in 2009. Its star has since fallen fast and hard. Sorry, acai. We still like you.

Coconut oil is one of the most recent health food darlings. People are obsessed, and it doesn’t look like the trend is going anywhere for a while. High in saturated fat, it was once vilified by the health world, but in the last year or two, everyone is singing its praises. It’s turning up as a vegan substitute for butter in baked goods, as a smoothie enhancer, and the tell-tale sign of any superfood trend, in places it doesn’t belong (like in salt & vinegar chips and salad dressing).

Goji berries, which are dense with antioxidants, have also risen in popularity over the last few years. They’ve been used in Chinese medicine to treat diabetes and high blood pressure, among other things, and people also tout their ability to increase metabolism and boost energy.

But only one of these superfoods can reign supreme. The champion, of course, is quinoa. The world just can’t get enough of this super seed these days, and we’re finding all kind of ways to capitalize on the quinoa trend. Quinoa whiskey now exists, and so too does drinkable quinoa. If Google is right, there’s no end in sight for quinoa, and it’s trumping other superfoods by a long shot. Are you sick of quinoa yet? Never want to see it again? You might not have a choice in the matter.

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Jodie Ostrovsky, owner of What’s The Scoop? ice cream shop in Portland, Oregon, had worked with Planned Parenthood before. “Nothing happened,” she told The Huffington Post. “This year, honestly, I didn’t even think about it.”

She’s thinking about it now.

Anti-abortion supporters got wind of the ice cream shop’s Planned Parenthood fundraiser, and they let their disapproval be known.

Abortion ice cream???
#PRAY for this sick, twisted organization and the souls that are lost in it.
#PRAY that… http://t.co/qX8WhAVUTW

— Erica Burton (@EBurton4Life) July 19, 2014

“I was surprised,” Ostrovsky told HuffPost.

As it does regularly with local groups, What’s The Scoop? partnered with Planned Parenthood to create a new flavor — in this case, a mix of honey vanilla and rose petal called Rose City Revolution.

The shop arranged for the organization to sell the ice cream, as well as a few other flavors, for a period of time and keep 50 percent of the profit. On July 17, What’s The Scoop? hosted a three-hour party for the organization to invite guests. During that time, the parlor donated 10 percent of all sales to the group.

However, the store’s community-mindedness hit a rocky road just before the event kicked off.

Ostrovsky said the backlash appears to have begun with a posting on an anti-abortion blog, which called the flavor “Blood and Scream!“

Another comment from elsewhere, Ostrovsky said, compared her to Josef Mengele, the Nazi who performed human experiments and picked concentration camp inmates to be killed.

“Some of them have been scary,” Ostrovsky told Willamette Week of the reactions. “Some of them are bizarre and odd. We don’t know why they’re telling us that we have problems when they’re saying terrible, threatening things.”

However, the shop’s Facebook page, where some of the negative comments appeared, has received a deluge of support.

“Keep on the good work with making wonderful flavors and supporting health care facilities that need it!” one visitor wrote. “As for all the other commenters: you should all be absolutely ashamed of yourselves.”

Despite the controversy, Ostrovsky explained to Eater Portland that she’s grateful for a “wonderful outpouring of support.”

h/t Mediaite