Week Without Corn

Driving around New Hampshire in the summertime, you’re bound to see fields of corn stalks swaying in the breeze. It’s a scene I find comforting. It reminds me of these lines from Carl Sandburg’s poem, Laughing Corn:

The wind and the corn talk things over together.
And the rain and the corn and the sun and the corn
Talk things over together

Pastoral rows of New England corn are a tiny speck of the 86 million acres of corn planted in the U.S. last year. Federal subsidies and an overabundance of corn is a controversial topic, pitting some farmers against food writers like Michael Pollan and documentary films like King Corn and Food, Inc, which condemn corn’s dominance over our food system. OK, if you’re not sure about corn, then don’t eat it.

Well, it’s not always easy. Carey Jones found that out for herself. Carey is writer and editor at Seriouseats.com, a leading food website. She decided not to eat any corn-based products last week. This past week, she added corn-fed products to that list. And we checked in to see where Carey Jones unexpectedly found corn.

Serious Eats: My Week Without Corn

The Washington Post: Study Finds High-Fructose Corn Syrup Contains Mercury

South Dakota Corn Growers Say Food, Inc. Is a Work of Fiction

(Photo by Laura Taylor via Flickr/Creative Commons)