In the early nineteenth century, Americans were drinking half a pint of corn whiskey per day. They drank it at breakfast, elevenses and all other times. It was a public health scandal whose hangover, ultimately, was prohibition. It happened because American farmers were unbelievably productive, there was a huge corn surplus, and whiskey was the best way to monetise it.
In the 1970s, America started dismantling forty years of policies designed to limit production, and there was another corn glut. The best way to monetise it this time was to turn it into corn syrup. From a standing start in 1980, this has become a ubiquitous part of the Western diet. It's in biscuits, cereals, ketchup and hams. Its ludicrous cheapness fuelled the supersize revolution (there was much less percentage in making fizzy drinks cheaper, for instance; but making them bigger and more attractive was a draw).
Via The Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollan. You almost certainly eat a lot more corn than you think.
1 comment:
I prefer the US addiction to corn syrup than the UK obsession with sweetening everything with lactose - presumably for dairy farming reasons akin to the US corn glut. You can't eat lactose if you're lactose intolerant, like me, or vegan. At least most people can eat corn.
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