Corn: (n.) the edible seeds of a plant utilized in the production of a majority of the products you buy and consume.
As a homage to my food obsession and my current interest in food politics, I plan to make a collection of items we wouldn’t usually thing of having corn in them, or using corn to produce them. Corn production within the last 40 years (since the revolution of Farm Policy by the government/Earl Butz in the 1970’s), whether we realize it, or not, has change immensely. Farmers are subsidized to produce extreme amounts of “industrialized” corn in the Corn Belt of the Midwest. This industrialized/commodity corn has to be processed in order to be made edible, meaning, farmers, specifically corn farmers, can no longer feed themselves and they must rely on government subsidies. Of the corn produced in the Corn Belt, 32% is exported or turned into ethanol, 5% turned into artificial sweeteners such as high fructose corn syrups and 55% percent of the corn produced will be fed to animals, specifically cattle. Cows are organically a grass fed animal and are not genetically engineered to only eat corn – the food used to fatten them up by meat manufactures to increase productivity and decrease the amount of time an animal meant for meat production is alive. The increase of production of artificial sweeteners has also coincided with the increase of diabetes in the United States.
All in all, I hope to inform viewers of how much the increase of corn production has changed the way Americans eat and buy products and therefore we must consider further what things are made of and how we can contribute to the fair and healthy production of corn.
As an example of things that utilized corn, I brought to class 10 items: febreeze air freshener, whiskey, shaving cream, charcoal, motrin, a diaper, glue, baby powder, batteries and a cardboard box. (the notes on my project were great, this is a truly inspiring and creative class! Thanks!)
A few new items: corn meal, soda, a reconstruction of a steak/maybe ground beef, reconstruction of Micky D's French fries, kool-aid, ketchup, etc.
Wow, if you made it through that rant, reward yourself and watch these films that inspired me (they’re pretty great/informative): the films: food inc., king corn and other things that I’m interested in: temple grandin (and her work with cattle), and the documentary: no impact man.
Ps. If you have Netflix, you can watch all the films noted above online as an ‘instant play’ option! Such a great resource for documentaries – I am slightly obsessed!
Right On, Janice! I'm glad you are so passionate about your topic. Thank you for this detailed and inspired post. I am curious to hear more about what the object you make will look like. Your teeth were very cool. Also, how might you display the whole thing? Maybe you need some kind of metal store shelf, or cardboard display station... Perhaps you could photograph the whole collection, half-eaten and decaying, or all re-built into shapes resembling ears of corn!!!
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I saw the documentary Food Inc. on my netflix cue months ago and watched it on a whim. I too found it informative, interesting and changed the way I look at food! I am excited to see your project. I would love to see some text included in it like an ingredident list such as: dextrose, glucose, dextrin, maltodextrin, lecithin etc. Or to convey the politics reproduce a dollar bill out of wrappers/boxes of products that contain corn... just a thought! Good Luck!
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