Pollan, M. (2006). The omnivore’s dilemma: A natural history of four meals. New York, NY: Penguin Press.
Mutation: it is the key to our evolution. It has enabled us to evolve from a single-celled organism into the dominant species on the planet. This process is slow, and normally taking thousands and thousands of years. But every few hundred millennia, evolution leaps forward. ~ Professor Charles Xavier, X-Men.
In the case of corn, we might be able to make the case that zea mays is the actual mutant belonging in comic books that people have come to enjoy – or perhaps it is in some way, ie: the paper, the laminate covering, or…fueling the imagination and drive of those who create such works of literary excellence. It’s quite a story to behold that corn, such as it is, has taken great bounds in its relatively short time with us that it has come so far as not only allowing itself to be domesticated, but also to domesticate us as well (p. 23). Ever since its first encounter by the White Man in 1492 (Christopher Columbus on his Santa Maria), corn was the key ally in the defeat of the Native American lifestyle (p. 24). There is no man-made weapon on this planet that can inflict such an ethnocide on such a broad and wide scale as corn did for Caucasians. It is because of this that today, consumers of corn might be able to be considered as being accessories to that crime committed by the corn. Such a move on the part of corn was very clever indeed, and as Pollan distinctly notes, “Corn is the protocapitalist plant,” by taking any and all such measures to secure its survival in the coming modern world (p. 26). Corn grows tall and narrow, allowing for the best ‘soldiers’ to press the attack as well as making room for as many reinforcements as possible (p. 30). No human army can lay claim to such a triumph of military precision – and it’s still considered to be natural!
Now that I have you ‘corn’ered with no possible avenue of escape, there is still yet to tell of such a capitalist plant. For instance, I now can firmly say that one of the most successful corporations on this planet has learned a great deal from corn – that being Monsanto. Apart from being the producer of the Agent Orange compound used in the deforestation efforts during the Vietnam War, Monsanto is also the company behind the Bt cotton problems in today’s India, of which Vandana Shiva can do much better at explaining than I am able. Monsanto is among the leading genetically-modified organism (GMO) companies in the world, and contributes to the efforts of the corn cycle. From growing corn at farms, to transporting it to processing facilities, to processing it, and distributing it to worldwide consumers, the web of the life of corn is simple to understand and yet difficult to grasp. Agribusiness is certainly not a risky enterprise. “You are what you eat,” says the common cliché, however Pollan rightfully suggests that “we are what what we eat eats, too” (p. 84). In other words, we consume corn both directly and indirectly via bovines and gasoline. We have learned some of the greatest life ways through corn, and are surely on no path to forgo or forget such patterns of living.
But if we stop to think that corn is just a military and capitalist participant, we couldn’t be more wrong. Corn can also be quite magical too! According to Pollan, corn carries out a certain alchemy when only four cents worth of the grass can become a product worth more than four dollars, multiplying its value by more than 100 times (p. 93)! I suppose that’s why economists get excited when such prospects arise such as “value-added” products come to the market (p. 95). Magical and economical are now also terms that can be attributed to corn. Nature continues to do everything so correctly and yet humans continue to make mistakes, some of them over again, for so long. When will we, as a species, learn to bounce back from our errors like the elastic that we are prone to be called (p. 99). Our digestive systems might be able to cope with whatever we throw it at, but what does that say about us as a species? I’d rather not think about it… In fact, I’m so inclined now to disagree with Pollan and ingest some spirits rather than sweets as I feel pretty depressed about the topic at hand (p. 103). But now I have the munchies, and so I might as well go eat some fast food to feel better quickly – only, I won’t be eating alone, or will I? Everyone eats so quickly nowadays that people have forgotten what it’s like to have a communal meal together (p. 110). I’ll certainly be full after devouring so many calories, but I won’t truly be satisfied (p. 119).
The Fighting Naturalist 