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Published on Visualizing Ecology (http://www2.evergreen.edu/visecowinter)

Cody Cohan

 “So that’s us: processed corn, walking.” Page 23
           

            I had no idea how much corn was inside of me. Corn, corn, corn, and more corn is all I see. As soon as I finished the first section of this book, I decided to go to the greenery and actually see what had corn in it. Just based of my basic knowledge of what corn can be used for, I suspect at least half of the food served there is spliced with corn in some way, shape or form. It’s quite interesting that corn could be so significant in our lives without ever really making that fact known. If Americans eat more corn then the people of the corn, who does that, make us? Pollan has an interesting take on domestication as well. He goes so far as to say that corn has domesticated us. Just what does domestication mean though? The ability to make other organisms adjust to your needs is how must would describe it and if you were a plant, wouldn’t your only need be to spread and grow? We have quite obviously adjusted our lifestyles to work with corn, but I don’t necessarily think that makes us domesticated. Pollan breaks down the omnivore’s dilemma into three sections that focus on different type of food. This are distinguished by how they where grown. Industrial farming is the most alarming and dominant force in agriculture, followed by organic farming with hunter/gather methods following it all up. This book really makes me question where my food comes from. It’s quite an important question now days as he explains in his description of a nutritionist lurking around a grocery store. There really is a lot of extra shit in our food and I, for one, have no idea what most of it really is. Of course this is due to our highly evolved ways of making sure we always have a meal. Preserving, curing and salting are just a handful of ways that we have learned to prevent nature from taking back the energy that we hoard.

‹ shaun libman [0]Mitch Gines › [0]

Source URL:
http://www2.evergreen.edu/visecowinter/visecowinter/cody-cohan-3