More on corn

Aug 16, 2006

For our next meeting of the science writers book club, I’m reading Michael Pollan’s book about food in America, . The first chapter, as it happens, is all about how corn has conquered our agriculture and food industries, and Pollan’s exploration of corn farming in the Midwest has me remembering my high school years in northern Illinois, where I worked summers detasseling corn or walking soybean fields in search of any weed that could foul the eventual bags of seed.

That chapter seems to be based on reporting Pollan did back in 2002, which I wrote about then. As I noted in that entry, I was the King of the 1987 DeKalb Corn Fest. And wouldn’t you know it, but this year’s fest will feature one of my favorite bands from my senior year, Survivor.

A few weeks ago, on my way home from the family reunion in West Virginia, I stopped with the family at a Cracker Barrel restaurant, and as the girls and I sat on the rockers out front, I looked up to see a DeKalb corn sign¹.

As Pollan would say, corn is in me through and through.

¹ Picture source:”http://cornrus.50megs.com/seed_signs03.html”

Anton Zuiker ☄