Things to think about for class tomorrow

Is it "just lunch"? Is there a value to Big Organic? How does gender shape work at Polyface Farms? Does Pollan comment on that? How does gender shape Pollan's hunter-gatherer meal? Is he fully aware of the way it operates?

What do you think about the arguments he presents for (and against) vegetarianism and veganism?

Corn Everywhere?

So after reading the first couple of pages after the intro, my mind was already blown, so that's what this is going to be about. You want to know what my first thought was: how much it would suck if you were allergic to corn. Am I right? Apparently they wouldn't be able to eat anything because everything is made of corn, or at one point is touched by corn, or has run across it. Technically, they couldn't even touch anything because all the gloss and coverings were made at some point by corn. CORN, CORN, CORN. Our world is over run by it, and I was unaware, so I know a lot of people my age and around me are unaware. It's so crazy to think about because one of my good friends is allergic to peanuts, and he can't eat anything that's been soaked in peanut oil, or anything that has come across peanuts. He has to bring his epi pen everywhere, just in case. It's just super weird to me that everything that surrounds me is from corn. The only time I think about it is when I have tacos, or Mexican food. Now, it's going to be on my mind, so I'm going to look at everything I eat and see if I can trace it back to corn. I love corn, especially corn on the cob, but I don't really like the idea of it being in other things I eat. (Corn flavored ice cream, what?)

Shoot, the world is a crazy place.

I'll Never Look at Corn The Same Way Again

This book has given me a gift, but like a 5 year old that receives socks for his birthday, I didn't like it. This so called "present" was a slap in the face that opened my eyes to something that I didn't necessarily want to see. Corn. Is. Everywhere. Growing up, corn was those little yellow kernels of deliciousness, on the cob or off, that were buttery, sweet, and delicious. But now, corn seems to be a building block to practically everything. It's in our sodas, on our produce, even in the walls of the buildings in which we buy those products. Even more astounding is how much the farmers have to do, toiling away working their fields, to provide this product to us, and how little they get paid. According to Iowa State University, most farmers spend, on average, $2.50 to produce a bushel, but are only paid $1.45 a bushel by the grain elevators. Farmers are paid this little due to a surplus of corn, but due to the ass-backward way that the corn farming profession is set up by the government, the solution to not making enough money is to simply grow more corn. Now, a surplus isn't always bad, but it is in regards to corn. A surplus should be kept in case there is a year in which a crop can't be grown, however, due to scientific advances, it's almost impossible to be unable to grow a crop of corn. So while farmers keep growing, the elevators are overflowing. Corn is strewn upon the ground because there is no other place to put it.

It's depressing to me to see this kind of waste when world hunger is so prevalent in our world. Not just in other countries, but also in our own. One would assume that the excess corn could just be given away, BUT not all corn can be eaten. Corn today has become so hybridized, or genetically modified, that it literally has to be processed before it can be consumed. Also, some corn can't even be consumed after it's been processed because it has been grown to be put into industrial uses such as building materials.

It's depressing to me that such a fun part of my childhood, eating corn off the cob, has been twisted into a nightmare by corporate America.

Accommodation and Domestication

While reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma, I was taken aback by Pollan’s depiction of how corn came to domesticate humans, and how successful this plant was at accommodating the people who would help it colonize “virtually every microclimate of North America.” Pollan presents the idea that rather than human’s inventing agriculture, it could just as easily be regarded as an evolutionary process of plants and animals to cater to humans, exhibiting the traits that we humans favored in order to survive. The artificial selection imposed by humans came to be just as important as the natural selection that had allowed corn to thrive, long before the Native Americans had begun to cultivate it.

Another surprising feature that seemed to accommodate humans was the way in which it could be “engineered” and how the companies invested in such engineering would be guaranteed a return, due to the fact that after the first season, the crops would yield anything profitable. The fact that these strategic crops, who had been successful in accommodating the physical desires of humans for centuries, also lent themselves to being sold and patented in our markets, was what shocked me the most.

My views

What really surprised me was how much money we spend on a farming industry that doesn't function as an efficient economic system. Farmers, especially large family farms, are subsidized by the government to produce too much corn and soy beans, which makes it possible for big corporate purchasers of their products to save money, but then resell it to consumers for bigger profits. As I understand it, American tax payers subsidize farmers, big corporations buy the subsidized product, largely corn or soy beans, which is then sold to food producers, from cattle farmers to cereal and cookie manufacturers, who then sell it to consumers at prices higher than they should be paying because the government subsidized, through their taxes, it in the first place. I want to see family farms stay in business, but this sort of system seems horribly inefficient.

Also surprising was just how trapped the farmers were into growing a particular crop. Amherst, Massachusetts, the town where I grew up, has a plow and a book on its town seal to symbolize it is both an educational community (with Amherst College, Hampshire College and the University of Massachusetts within its borders) and an agricultural community. I'm no farmer, but even I would notice that different farms grew different crops from year to year. Sometimes it was corn, sometimes squash, sometimes even flowers. In more rural and larger scale farms, the farmers seem to have no choice but to grow corn or soybeans because if the grew something else they would have no market for their produce, or have to transport over very great distances.

Weaving Corn Into Our Life

Pollan spends a good amount of time talking about carbon and the human body, which surprised me, because the book seems more geared towards the cultural part of food. Yet he makes sure to talk about carbon in a way that makes it simple for the reader to understand. Not only that but he then connects it back to the cultural part of food, so he ties everything together so as to create the big picture for the reader. I noticed that he does that throughout part one which then makes me believe that his whole book has this kind of standard. I appreciate the different parts of history that he weaves together to create the bigger picture of his book which can be argued to be a major idea throughout. Corn is in all aspects of life; as much as we are dependent on corn, corn is dependent on us and over time it has and it will become a detrimental part of our diets.

Elevator

Driving across the prairie to Grandma's house, there is not much to look at out the car window to keep us entertained. So when we pass an elevator on a farm, everyone gets excited and looks in awe at the giant cylinder towering over the fields; Mom points out how small the farmer's truck is in comparison. The Kansas prairie is a part of my life and the farmers are a part of my family.

While reading Michael Pollan's book, I found myself wanting to defend the farmers when he told of the wasted corn falling to the ground as the truck is loaded and commences on its travels. How could he proclaim that the farmers are not bothered by corn that did not stay in the bed of the truck? Of all people, I believe farmers are some of the people who take things granted the least; they have been through hard seasons and work from sun up to sun down.

Yet, I think, of course it must be true. Americans are pressured to complete tasks efficiently and quickly. So while we sit there angrily reading about farmers wasting corn, we should all feel guilty, as we all are constantly wasting and taking things for granted. That is why Pollan's book is understandable to the general public. We can all understand what is going on in these scenes, but many will deny the fact that they take part in wasteful actions as well.