I am corn walking.

I’m reading the Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan, a story of our food. I had heard Pollan interviewed on NPR and read reviews of the book, and the book is much more interesting than I expected. I grew up on a farm (and presently own 1/5 of that farm), and sensed a vast change in how food is grown (or should we say manufactured) now. Omnivore’s Dilemma gives substance to those suspicions. To me, former farmer, it’s a heartbreaking picture but fascinating nevertheless.

Our food supply seems to be organized around corn (with soybeans in second place). Pollan says, the Maya were so dependent on corn as a food that they sometimes referred to themselves as “the corn people.” They might say, “I am corn walking” (19). However, we in the U. S. now consume more corn than Mexicans; we just consume in indirectly in the form of corn fed meats and colas sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup. Corn is turned into acids, sugars, starches, and alcohols. You are seeing corn on the ingredient list when you see “citric and lactic acid; glucose, fructose, and maltodextrin; ethanol, sorbitol, mannitol, and xanthan gum; modified and unmodified starches; as well as dextrins and cyclodextrins and MSG, to name only a few” (86). I checked the label on my Cheerios this morning. Modified corn starch is the second ingredient and corn starch is the third. Read this book and be depressed.