You=Corn; Corn=You

As promised, and I’m sure, much anticipated, I’m finally going to talk about The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan.

I must be honest, I’ve recently become obsessed with corn and its uses, because of English 308. I honestly had no idea that corn was so important to our lives, and this would explain why my favorite part of Pollan’s book is Chapter One-The Plant-Corn’s Conquest. This is the chapter I most want to focus on.

Pollan begins this chapter with an examination of grocery stores and supermarkets. He writes about how the only portion of a supermarket that has any resemblance of its original self, is in fact, the Produce aisle. I believe we can all agree with this statement. Pollan writes,

“Venture farther, though, and you come to regions of the supermarket where the very notion of species seems increasingly obscure…Thought it might not always seem that way, even the deathless Twinkie is constructed out of…ultimately some sort of formerly living creature, i.e., a species” (Pollan 16).

Pollan is quick to point out that even though our foods have become more and more synthetic, they all began as a plant “…every edible item in the supermarket is a link in a food chain…” (Pollan 17).

Pollan decided to figure out not only what he was eating from grocery stores, but where those stores were getting their food from. He ended up, in many cases, in the American Corn Belt.

Corn is everywhere and in almost everything. It’s amazing how many different things corn is in – I honestly had no idea. We really are all “the corn people” or are “corn walking”. Pollan is able to pull in some of the history about the descendents of the Maya still living in Mexico. These people refer to themselves sometimes as “the corn people” or they say “corn walking”. These statements are, “meant to acknowledge their abiding dependence on this miraculous grass” (19). Corn walking is, “simply a statement of fact: The very substance of the Mexican’s body is to a considerable extent a manifestation of this plant” (19).

The things that we eat make up who we are, and the thing that makes up what we eat – is mostly corn.

Pollan is able to convey that corn is in everything, from the meat that we eat, to our dairy items, even to our processed foods. Concerning a chicken nugget, “…the modified corn starch that glues the thing together, the corn flour in the batter that coats it, and the corn oil in which it gets fried” are all part of a chicken nugget, these are all made from or derived from corn, as are many of our processed foods (Pollan 18).

You and me? We are all linked to corn, considering we are all living in Illinois, in the middle of many corn fields. My back yard is a giant cornfield, I see cornfields every day and now I can constantly be reminded that I am corn and corn is me. Pretty deep, huh?

I actually very much like Pollan’s style of writing. He’s quick to get out facts and is able to back them up without pushing his opinion too much. I strongly suggest reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma. It is a huge eye-opener for what we are putting in our bodies. We need to treat ourselves well and learn about what we are eating.

I guess the old saying is right – “you are what you eat!”

-Julia