I am reading Omnivore's Dilemma. Adam read it about a year ago and has been after me to read it ever since. Now that Campbell puts herself to sleep and I have regained some "me time" in the evenings during which I can read, I am finally getting around to getting him off my back.
If you haven't already read this book I will channel Adam and say that you "have to read it. Everyone should be forced to read it." Michael Pollan's book is a riveting, page-turner of an expose on the American diet and food industry. A real picture of American largess if ever there was one.
The first thing explored is the amazing role corn plays as the anchor of our food system. I had no idea how much stuff we make from the massive surpluses of corn generated by outdated and corporately manipulated agriculture policies (more in a future post). Given that corn is on my mind right now I took a peak at my LeanCousine box while my gourmet lunch was nuking. . . .
Yup, you guessed it corn. No less than six of the 20 or so ingredients listed on my box were corn. What was I eating? Pizza. And not that freaky Mexican pizza that they used to serve in my elementary school cafeteria that had corn on it. Italian pizza - pizza margherita.
So, corn? Really? Six forms of corn are needed to make something consisting of dough, tomato sauce, cheese and tomatoes and onions? Actually, I'm guessing based on my reading so far that a seventh ingredient (modified food starch) probably has some form of corn in it since it is denoted by an asterisk that signifies it is "not an ingredient in regular mozzarella cheese."
Crazy . . . I never would have guessed that corn is a bedrock ingredient in pizza. Omnivore is a real eye opener. We are all corn.
