My Soapbox on Corn

This is really part two of why I am a "food snob." When I was still in elementary school, my aforementioned anti-WonderBread eldest brother started dating a lovely woman who was to become his wife. Aforementioned lovely woman had an allergy - she was allergic to corn.

And so, anytime they were to visit, my mother and I had to prepare the larder. We had to shop. We had to find foods without corn. This may sound easy, but I assure you it is not. I just read somewhere that of the 10,000 or so products found in your typical grocery store, approximately 2,500 of them have a corn byproduct or were produced or manufactured using corn.

I suspect that that number includes things like corn-fed beef and farm-raised salmon, which is also corn-fed. But back in the early 80's, my corn-consciousness was mostly limited to food products that contained corn syrup, corn starch, and cornmeal.

It's hard to find, in your typically grocery store, a loaf of bread which is free of corn syrup. Likewise, soda, which almost goes without saying, and cranberry juice. Often chinese food is made using corn starch as a thickener. Did you know that? How about this: confectioners' sugar...corn starch. Most jellies, jams, ketchups, tomato-based pasta sauces include corn syrup. Bagels, pizza...you have to be careful that the bakers haven't used cornmeal on the crust. Most cereals contain corn syrup. The list goes on and on. Try it some time. Next time your in the grocery store doing your shopping, check out the labels. Look for the corn.

Anyway, as a result, from age 11 or so on, I have been trained to read food labels...carefully. And I was trained to hate corn. Well, not corn itself. I love a freshly picked ear or two as much as the next guy or gal. And I'm a sucker for the occasional Frito. Every once in a while, when my nieces are around, I'll even indulge in a bowl or two of Captain Crunch.

But for almost a quarter of a century, I've been mindful of the uses and abuses of corn and I've tried, when reasonable, to avoid products with corn byproducts. Here again, I fall well-short of my self-imposed, non-corn, food-ethic standard. Again, Dunkin Donuts.

In any case, here's an informative interview from our friends at the Christian Science Monitor with Michael Pollan who's written fairly extensively about the evils...I mean, the impact of corn:

http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1031/p17s01-lihc.html

And here's an interesting article about high fructose corn syrup - how it's manufactured, which is not a pretty picture - and how it can affect the human body, also not pretty:

http://www.westonaprice.org/motherlinda/cornsyrup.html

Someday I'll write about the grass- (not corn-) fed side of beef in my freezer. That's another of my favorite food-related soap boxes. In the meantime, enjoy reading about Ol' King Corn.