Food, Glorious Food

Corn, this simple starchy plant has become one of America’s largest industries, but one may ask why? Corn can be separated into its starches and made into very unhealthy substances, much line high fructose con syrup, which is cheep to produce and make things sweet. There is a downside to using corn as a vessel by which science creates these chemicals. That downside is the general health of Americans is beginning to wan. I now pose a solution to this corny problem we face, what if we at all the corn instead of turning it into yucky chemicals? This may seem a bit extreme, but many civilizations survived on a diet that was comprised of mainly corn. Also since corn is produced in such great quantities it would be a relatively inexpensive food. Corn can be used to make a vast variety of different dishes.
From a historical standpoint corn has worked wonders for vast number of civilizations. Let us begin our corn filled romp through history with the Aztec and Mayan empires. Both of these civilizations, especially the Aztec, relied heavily on corn as the main staple of their diet. In southern Mexico corn grows quite well, and the Aztecs and Mayans knew this. These civilizations had a class of hunters and gatherers, but also a higher class of farmers. Corn was so important that the farmers were on a higher rung of the social latter than the hunters. These civilizations both utilized the use of corn meal to make breads and tortilla like foods. Next in the history of corn users are the American Indian of the east coast. Many of the tribes in the in these areas utilized fairly advanced farming techniques to grow corn crops.  One specific example is the Wampanoag tribe of Virginia used corn as a staple food. This tribe was also a large fishing tribe, so they would put the fish heads under ground as fertilizer for next years corn crop. This natural fertilizer yielded great corn.
Now that the history is over lets talk economics. At the present America is on the downside of a recession, and that means high unemployment rates. High unemployment rates mean that there are fewer jobs, and that means less money for some families. Now in this present state many families cannot afford good, healthy food. They have resorted to buying things that are cheap. Things that are cheap in the world of food usually mean filled with chemicals that I cannot even pronounce, and those are usually mad of corn. These cheaper foods are not the healthiest things in the world, and because of this the general health of the American people is falling. If the general health falls in a country, then productivity falls. In the e long run an unhealthy country will have a lower gross domestic product falls, and that means that the United States will loose power on the world stage.
Now there is the problem let’s talk why corn is the solution. Corn is a simple plant, but it has so very many uses. For starters corn in itself is a delicious food. Weather on the cob or off it is a tasty treat. Now let us go one step further, one could cream the corn or add in tomatoes and green chilies and make a salsa. Corn can also be made into corn meal, a most wonderful substance. Cornmeal id used in so many dishes such as Polenta, corn bread, and tortillas. The other parts of the plant also have important uses as well. The husks can be used to make tomalis and dolls for the children. My personal non-food use of corn is the ever so delightful corncob pipe.
Corn is it friend or foe, problem or solution, food or pipe. Corn is a wonderful plant that is currently being taken advantage of. I now give the world my charge. Corn is the answer, take a stand, and fight the good fight for the good plant.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 9th, 2010 at 11:24 am and is filed under 9:30 AM section. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.