“A pungent, turnip-like vegetable called maca, heralded as a cancer-fighting superfood and sold on the shelves of supermarkets like Whole Foods,” is grown in the Andes in Peru and is the new global rock star of the food world, says the New York Times. Chinese buyers are bidding up the price of the root vegetable. There are rumors of seeds being smuggled out of Peru for cultivation in other countries. “As maca booms, some Peruvians fear that they are losing control of a valuable crop with a history that goes back long before the time of the Inca empire,” says the Times. The boom is making some farmers rich and has nearly tripled the price in U.S. grocery stores.