At the expense of sounding like a broken record (and keeping up with my current man-crush on Michael Pollan), I wanted to share with everyone a really good documentary I watched last week titled King Corn.*
For those who have been out of the loop, or possibly reading my blog for the first time today (Welcome!), I recently finished reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma (written by said man-crush mentioned above), and it’s really opened my eyes to just how atrocious our food industry is. Americans want cheap food, and that’s exactly what we’re getting.
Corn is in everything. To be honest, it’s rather disconcerting just how many things have corn (or it’s derivatives) included in their ingredients. Walk down the aisle of your local grocery store, and I can guarantee that 90% of the food you pick up has “corn” in it.
If you don’t believe me, the next time you’re in the store grab a random product. I’m willing to bet you’ll find several of the following listed:
- High fructose corn syrup
- corn flour
- corn starch
- buttcrack
- corn gluten
- dextrin/maltodextrin,
- xanthan gum
And the list could go on and on. Compound all of this with the fact that the bulk of our beef is “tainted” due to the geniuses who decided it would be a great idea to feed cattle a predominantly corn-based diet (to fatten them up more quickly), and it’s no wonder we’ve seen the quality of our meats go down the tubes. Watch the documentary and you’ll realize just how FUBAR it is that we’re feeding cattle something they weren’t meant to eat in the first place.
Nevertheless, I’m a “realist,” and I don’t mean to come across as if corn is the anti-christ. I realize that King Corn had an agenda and only stated one side of the story; albeit it was a very convincing one. When all is said and done, I tend to always take the middle road and can filter out info from both sides of the spectrum. I mean, I’m sure there’s someone out there who claims that corn will cure irritable bowel syndrome or something. However, it is rather amazing just how oblivious we are when it comes to what we put down our pie-holes on a daily basis without even a second thought as to what the health ramifications could be down the road. I mean, it’s one thing to eat corn on the cob or even corn bread on occasion. Yet, something completely different when we guzzle down two liters of soda a daily basis and can find “corn” in relish!
