Corn Rules All

After watching King Corn, I want to call it quits and become a vegetarian. To think about how much of our food has corn in it is mind boggling to me. The worst part is there is not really a way to avoid it because there is corn or high fructose corn syrup in almost everything we eat.

 The researchers in this documentary went to a specialist to have their hair sampled to see what traces of food have been in their diet. They found interesting results concluding most of their diet consisted of corn! It's not like they sat at the dinner table and chowed down on ears of corn, but more so corn disguised as food. Most of the corn grown either goes into ethanol production, cow feed, or is turned into high fructose corn syrup. It's hard to find a food label of ingredients that does not include high fructose corn syrup. Lately I have been checking the foods I eat and it is pretty accurate. If my hair were to be tested there would probably be a high amount of corn as well.

 In addition to people having high amounts of corn in their system so do the cattle that feed us. (Click link to find out more info about this: link) Ranchers feed their cattle food that has high levels of corn. The cattle "put on weight faster if you don't let them move," so they are kept in confined spaces while they eat. Back in the day, ranchers let the cattle graze and roam in the fields. This was more natural and healthier for the cattle. Ranchers try to speed up the process so they can make more money by not having to wait as long for the cattle to reach their full growth. This unfortunately makes the cattle grow more fat than lean muscle. So not only is the meat we eat corn infused, but it also has more “fat disguised as meat.” In addition to hurting us as consumers, the corn feed makes the cattle unhealthy as well. The cattle are overfed so they bulk up just to be killed and consumed by humans… what a life!

This documentary was incredibly enlightening and will definitely make me think twice next time I’m shopping at the grocery store. I will be checking the ingredients of my food from now on.

Money Makes the World Go 'Round

As I continue to read Stuffed and Starved by Raj Patel, I grow more astonished with every turning page. Many things stick out to me from this book, but there seems to be an underlying theme to almost every situation: money. We all know food fuels our bodies to help us stay alive, but with the way society acts one would think money is essential to our survival. I have always known there have been greedy people in the world; however, I always pictured them as corporate lawyers or financial managers of some sort. I never pictured executives of food companies as greedy or abusive. “Corporations are the first to admit that they’re in business not for any wider social goal, but for profit” (Patel, 114). There it is right from the text, in black and white stating all they want is money! How can people be so blind to their own detrimental fixation with money?

 If you want to get down to it, greed is the leading cause of people being stuffed and starved. The people who are rich and wealthy have plenty to eat because they abuse their power over the weak or starved. In addition, the obese people of the world are ignorant or oblivious to the way their food is being improperly made with shortcuts to save the food companies a couple million here or there. Basically food corporations’ greed is causing the world to become progressively more unhealthy and poor as the years progress.

What is even worse is how the government is involved in the situation. Companies will “buy[] government goodwill” in order to make their careers more successful (Patel, 116). These executives will donate to political officers’ careers in order to receive good favor with their business at a later date. Nothing is safe if the government officials can be bought. This statistic alone is appalling, “the top four companies in many sectors of the food system are responsible for more than half the political contributions” (116). That is a lot of money to put into politics! In addition, the companies would not have that money if they did not find the cheapest (link to video giving insight to possible future of our world) way to produce the most amount of food with little regard for anyone else it might affect. I am not saying the government is being outright deceitful. They are merely persuaded to “shape the rules” in the food corporations’ favor (115).

Our food system seems to be even more corrupt and discriminating than I originally thought. As I get further into the book I can only hope greed will become less evident in the people’s lives…. one can only hope.

Where Are All the Farmers?

After reading Stuffed and Starved by Raj Patel, I look at my life through fresh eyes. I am so lucky to have the life I do where I don’t have to worry about whether or not I will eat dinner when I get home or if my dad’s job will be able to provide for our family. I have neither the problem of being starved nor the burden of being stuffed. I am one of the few healthy individuals who does not suffer from the worldwide epidemic of obesity. I am truly grateful for my health.

In Stuffed and Starved, Patel discusses how corporate greed affects lowly farmers in a negative way. Farmers are unable to make a substantial profit anymore because companies know they can pay less and sell for higher to make a bigger profit for themselves. This causes farmers to take out bigger loans to stay afloat in their own business; however, they are not always able to survive this economic downfall. “82 per cent of farmers are in debt” Patel states. This debt causes much unrest for not just the farmer, but the family as well. They are forced to make their children help where they can to make ends meet. They fight back by “working themselves to

exhaustion and scraping together whatever they can to be able to maintain some sort of standard of living.” Often farmers’ land is taken from them if their business is too unsuccessful causing the farmer and family pure devastation. Many times this causes some farmers to commit suicide for failing not only their family but the generations of their family before them.  Most of the time the farms have been passed down through the generations, so the burden of losing the family farm can be too much to bear for just one man.

Unfortunately, “farmer suicides cease to be full stops at the end of a life.” After the male dies, the woman bears the burden of raising the family and trying to stay afloat financially and physically. Sometimes they are driven to alternative methods of making money. In addition to the people who do have land, “the landless families systematically face the threat of starvation.”  Essentially, a farmer can start with land only to have it ripped from his family. This then causes them to be landless and more likely to starve for lack of money and means to buy food.

In this section of the book Patel focuses mainly on different parts of India where this economic crisis takes place. I am horrified at these events that are currently occurring worldwide. I had no idea such desperation was so prevalent in a rural society. It is ironic that the people who grow the food to stuff the wealthy are currently starving living in poverty. Patel captures this concept perfectly through his enlightening title. Change needs to happen to minimize both the stuffed and starved.

 

Picky Eater Blues

I am one of the pickiest eaters you will ever meet. Growing up I hated trying new foods. My parents would have to bribe me with desert for me to try just one bite of everything on my plate. This was typically followed by a dramatic scene where I gag and prove to my parents I didn’t like what they forced me to eat. Dinner was always a match to see who would win: me or the food? Typically I got out of eating the stuff I didn’t like; however, there were occasions where I was forced to eat more than a bite of everything before I was allowed to leave the table. This process grew tiresome to my parents and eventually wore them out to the point where I could get away with just eating a PB&J for dinner.

I’d like to say my diet has changed over the years, but that would be a lie. I eat more carbs than any other food group, most of which is pasta (minus the sauce). I love fruits and vegetables for the most part (except any vegetable that would usually show up in a salad). When my mom used to make chicken for dinner, she would make me a separate breast with absolutely no seasoning or dressing because I wouldn’t eat it otherwise. I still to this day dislike seasoning or spice of any kind. I hate any type of peanut butter mixed with chocolate, which apparently seems to be a strange combination to dislike. The list goes on and on and only makes cooking even more difficult for this college kid.

Not only am I a picky eater, but I cannot cook to save my life. This pretty much rules out me cooking any type of meat that can’t be heated up in the microwave for dinner.  I once tried to make hard boiled eggs, which shouldn’t be too difficult, and managed to screw that up. I left the room while they were boiling and came back because I heard a cracking sound. One of the eggs was on the floor from exploding out of the pot. I looked in the pot and no water was left and burn marks on the bottom. It’s safe to say I won’t be making those again.

 

I love food, I really do; however, the spread of food I like is small and limited.