It began as an ordinary lunch break, the kind filled with familiar routines and quick meal preparation. As she assembled a simple salad, she sprinkled what she believed to be quinoa over the greens, barely giving it a second thought. The small brown grains blended naturally with the vegetables, but something about their arrangement soon caught her attention. They appeared unusually uniform and clustered in a way that didn’t resemble cooked or raw grains. Trusting her instincts, she paused before taking another bite and took a closer look. That moment of awareness led her to realize that the specks were not quinoa at all, but tiny insect eggs attached to a leaf of lettuce. Continue reading…
