This first chapter of Micheal Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma is about a produce that its derivation are ubiquitous around us: corn. The most interesting aspect is that most of our society is not even informed about the extensive use of this plant. Pollan reveals that on the the forty-five thousand items in the average American supermarket, more than a quarter of them now contain corn. From feeding animals like chicken, beef, pig and now salmon, while being a constituent of eggs and most dairy products, corn is everywhere. Through some historical analysis of how corn was first used by the Maya's, Pollen explains why corn is such a powerful crop and how it's use was transferred to the white colonists. The fact that corn is a C-4 plant gives it an advantage to grow where water is scare and temperature high. It also contains significantly more energy that similar crop which makes it very tempting to feed humans and animals.
In chapter two, Pollan tells us about his experience on a corn farm. By interacting with George Naylor, a corn farmer, we get more insights about how corn changed farming and landscapes in Iowa. What once used to be verdant fields of varied produces, now became a desert of corn. Even the livestock which used to be present has no use since it was replaced by machinery. The mentality of farmers has also changed. Now everything is about yield per acre, not its quality and size like it used to. The more corn is produced, the lower the price it sells for, the more corn has to be produced for the farmer to survive. This is the vicious circle of corn.
Chapter three is about the grain elevator which to Pollen's eyes lowers the value of this vegetable which was once praised by Mayan's. "An immense pile of corn left out in the rain". We then learn that big companies like ADM and Cargill are the ones who control the corn's obscure stages from elevators to feedlots.
I was very absorbed by this book from the start especially when Pollen revealed how much corn is around us. I knew that high fructose corn syrop was present in many products but I never knew that modified or unmodified starch, maltodextrin, ascorbic acid, lecithin, dextrose, lactic acid, lysine, maltose, caramel color and xanthum gum all came from corn! I find it also shocking that most of us do not know what we are actually eating. I wonder how many percent of Americans know what xanthum gum is. I feel like we should not be eating so much of one product and that we are losing the variety of products that are civilization used to live on for thousands of years.
Questions that I am raising:
Pollen's writing seems to indicate that the corn revolution is harmful for our society. How so? Isn't corn healthy for us since it is a grain?
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