Monday, September 23, 2013
The Many Faces of Corn
The first section of The Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollan revolves around corn and its man facets. To put it simply, Pollan explains that corn is everywhere and used in almost everything. When he first introduces the topic in the book, I felt like he was being a bit dramatic. However, once I read through how it is used on the far, in grocery stores, by the consumer and in fast food I realized just how right he was. From high-fructose corn syrup to corn starch, this crop is truly found in everything. I was initially fascinated by the numerous ways in which corn was being used. Then Pollan began to point out some of the more negative aspects of the crop. Farmers are suffering because of the low prices and consumers are suffering from many health conditions. Like all foods, we are never meant to consume corn in excess. That seems impossible considering all of the products that contain corn. It is also a crop that is not good for the soil. As we have mentioned in class, it rapes the soil of its nutrients and makes it difficult to plant any other crops. There are also hybrids that have been formed and everything simply begins to sound ugly to me. After reading through this section I have developed a negative view of corn and its many faces. It is masked ad placed into several different locations and it is modified to meet specific needs. My question is, why would you mess with a good thing? Do you think that all of the alternative uses for corn are necessary or beneficial?
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No, I don't think that all of the ways that we use corn today are necessary but with the surplus crop that the United States alone makes, how really would we change this? I mean there are other ways to make sugar...sugar beets, sugar cane, etc. but corn is the cheapest and can grow in many different geographical climates therefore it's the crop that is produced. Whereas sugar cane utilizes a very specific geographical location and so do sugar beets.
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