The Omnipresence of Corn in the American Diet

Main Point # 1 - Corn’s versatility, global demand, and profit margin has led the over grown grass to emerge as America’s number one crop. The USDA evaluated corn’s crop value to be $76.9 billion in 2011, making it a huge contributor to the American economic system (National Corn Growers Association, 2017). Research gathered by Duke University found that the U.S. produced 40% of the world’s supply, 10% of which comes from the small town of Constantine, Michigan while an additional 10% is produced from the surrounding areas (“U.S and Employment,” 2015; Motz, T., 2016). These spikes in corn’s global demand have created an opportunity for farmers and mid-western field workers to become involved in the growing and profitable industry.

Many alterations have been applied to the area that corn is grown in. The main biome that corn is grown would be grasslands. Grasslands are an extremely important biome for producing food, it was shown that approximately 90% of the food produced today contains at least one of the fifteen species that are grown in grasslands. Unfortunately, for there to be enough space for corn to be grown and harvested, native grasses must be cleared, therefore having a devastating impact on the biome. Corn is known to be the most thirsty crop to be grown, taking up almost 7,000 to 8,000 gallons of water, draining countries, that don't receive as much rain, of their groundwater. Another impact on the environment of corn production would be the excessive use of fertilizers, this is due to the little nutrients returned back to the soil. As corn is mainly used for consumption, very little plant

Pollan writes , " The way we eat represents our most profound engagement with the natural world. Daily, our eating turns nature into culture, transforming the body of the world into our bodies and minds.” (Pollan,386 ). In the book “ Farm city “, Carpenter, who started an urban farm deep in an Oakland ghetto. She showed what is important about food, and what is lacking in our food culture. She pointed out the issues of local food by demonstrating that it could be done on anywhere, even if your community is full of gangsters. She started raising her own food and learned about animal husbandry, her neighbors, and herself. Furthermore, eating less corn-fed meat, or shifting corn toward more efficient dairy, poultry, pork and grass-fed beef systems, would allow American to get more food from each bushel of corn. The US government should encourage American farmers explore other methods for growing corn, including better conventional, organic, biotech and conservation farming methods that can dramatically reduce chemical inputs, water use, soil losses and impacts on

The history of corn can be dated back to the beginning of time, but the use and value of corn had been unnoticed until it was introduce by the Native Americans. Where corn had seemed to be a big part of their everyday life from, being in myths, legends, and for a huge portion of their diet corn was an essential component. "when the Europeans had touched base to the New World during the late fifteenth century, the Native Americans had introduced corn what they had called maize to the Europeans .This crop was then later on grown and adapted from Canada to southern South America very quickly, which then began to form the new basis of the New World civilization" (Leventin & McManhon, 2012). The way corn has been changing and revolutionizing throughout time has been both fascinating and drastic. Rather than conventional corn being grown, it is genetically modified corn that have been dominating today 's crop industry and farming but the question remains as to how the various types of GMO corn has influenced the way it is grown and used and what its ramification are.

The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollen utilizes elements of ethos and metaphors in the passage on pages 116 and 117 in order to persuade readers to believe that humans have become a “race of corn.” Ethos is one of the most notable forms of persuasion Pollen uses. He gets credibility by asking “Todd Dawson, a biologist at Berkeley, to run a McDonald's meal through his mass spectrometer and calculate how much of the carbon in it came originally from a corn plant...in the various McDonald’s menu items” (Pollen 116). Including a study written by a certified professional lends more support to his argument of the presence of corn. In addition, he also mentions that the research mentions menu items from McDonalds, a well-known, unhealthy company,

At this point you must be wondering, whats the issue with corn? Frist let me point out when I say corn, I am not speaking of sweet corn that you eat a bowl of for dinner. We are talking about field corn, which is primarily grown to fed animals, that we then eat. The problem is with feeding animals field corn. Here 's the problem with feeding animals (particularly cows) field corn: animals are not supposed to eat corn!!!! As a result we have meat products that are wreaking havoc on our health. First, understand cows are meant to eat grass and other foraged materials. Cows are not supposed to eat corn, when they do a plethora of things happen. The first is that it makes them sick. Cows fed corn become bloated, are more susceptible to liver abscesses, and e.coli. Also, because Corn is high in phosphorous and low in calcium which is a recipe for kidney stones. You must also understand to combat all the damage the corn does to cow, farmers then pump their animals full of drugs to

Corn is not the ideal nutritious food. It wreaks havoc on the animal;s' digestive system and gets turned into sweeteners that makes people obese, aside from giving us an unhealthy diet. In other words, the industrial food chain that American man is sustained on is largely based on corn, whether in its direct form, fed to livestock, or processed into chemicals such as glucose, and the cheapest forms of these are high-fructose corn syrup and ethanol. The former, particularly, through a combination of biological, cultural, and political factors, appears in the cheapest and most common of foods that constitute the American diet. It is the ingredient that results in obesity, and, since it appears in the cheapest products, the ingredients that more poor, than wealthier individuals, consume.

Pollan begins his journey of exploring the industrial food chain by taking a trip to the supermarket. Reason being, most Americans, buy their food from such stores. During this trip, he finds what seems to be a wide variety of choices. However, majority of these choices have one thing in common: they have corn in them or

Most environment and health arguments surround the misuse of nitrogen and corn. In “What’s Eating America” Michael Pollan used the classical oration to structure his argument that America depends on nitrogen and corn; his argument consisted of an introduction, background, lines of argument, alternative argument, and a conclusion. The introduction, also known as the exordium is where the writer introduces his subject of argument. In Pollan’s introduction, he starts gaining the readers’ interest by referencing the connection that all societies even America runs on corn. “For the great edifice of variety and choice that is an American supermarket rests on a remarkably narrow biological foundation: corn”. Although, he does

Chapter one of The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan follows corn on its journey from acting as the primary crop of the Native Americans all the way to its introduction into the industrial setting. Pollan makes it explicitly clear that corn is in everything. Behind all the chemicals listed in the “ingredients” section on a product, consumers will find corn. Corn even plays a role in our chemical makeup. Because of corn’s ability to intake more carbon than most other plants, it does not have a preference over the carbon isotopes it consumes. By looking at the carbon isotope ratios in humans, we can determine how much corn one has eaten. Pollan states that corn’s variability is what makes it such an important crop. The European settlers

Looking back into history, growing crops for food was one of the priorities of the earliest settlers arriving in North America, with shipboard supplies depleted, and having little familiarity with the land and crops to ensure their survival. The stories of Native Americans teaching the settlers to plant and fertilize a corn crop are part of this country’s lore that has been reported throughout history.

Step 1 - Observation and description of a phenomena: Scientic community proposes that increase in obesity rates of Americans and introduction/increase of HFCS in American diet are linked.Step 2 – Formulation of a hypothesis: If a standard diet is supplemented with HFCS, this will cause obesity in subjects. Further, if the normal dietary habits of subjects are tracked, those subjects with higher intake levels of HFCS will show increased signs of obesity, including increased body weight, abdominal fat and TG levels.Step 3 – Testing the hypothesis:

Although cows were evolved to survive on grass; we are feeding them corn for the benefit of the American consumers. After six months calves are weaned off tall grass, put into pens and taught how to eat corn. While this does not make sense on an environmental viewpoint, economically it does as a corn fed cow will grow and produce more quickly.

One thing I enjoyed about the first chapter of, “The Edible History of Humanity,” by Tom Standage is that it provided a description of how the domestication of the three cereal grains, maize, wheat, and rice, has had an effect on both the plants in question and the human race. The act of humans “...deliberately cultivating…” (Standage 2) these grains gave them the ability to settle into permanent communities and farm for most of their food, something which had never been done before and set a precedent followed even today. In turn, the domestication of these plants for easier farming made the plants practically unable to reproduce without the aid of human farmers, “The grains are attached to a central axis known as the rachis.

We begin, in the beginning – the seed. Food’s evolution, like all living beings, begins from a seed. The seed is the fundamental first stage of life. Genetically modified (GM) seeds are a threat to the entire food cycle and “…the preservation of the natural and cultural heritage” (Lopata, 210). Elizabeth Fitting explains this threat in Food Activism explaining the central role maize plays in Mexico. She writes, “The farming, milling and cooking of maize are a key part of everyday life in the countryside.” She goes on to say “In many indigenous regions of the Americas, maize seed retains a strong spiritual significance and is the focus of a variety of rituals involving the blessing of seed, celebrating of the harvest, and so on.” …”maize