*When I say "our cows" I don't mean cows that belong to me. I mean cows in general that are used for beef and dairy.
I wish I had some cows. I wouldn't eat them, and I wouldn't make them eat corn. I would just love them.

Someday, when I have my farm, I will be growing my own corn, and I'll make sure to freeze a bunch to give you, Natalie. :-)

Your point about the yarn (eco-hostile?) makes me think of the ethanol issue.
I wish the powers-that-be would stop trying to figure out new ways to use all the surplus corn we grow and just stop subsidizing it so that the normal supply & demand pattern can re-emerge.

At my house, we're firmly of the opinion that ethanol is not the answer to the fuel problem. It's a poor excuse for a solution, in my opinion. It's most likely not going to end up as a use for surplus corn - instead, more corn will be grown to be used as ethanol along with all the other crazy places corn gets shoved into (like your soda and our cows).

Anyone who has ever driven through the middle of the US, states like Iowa, Illinois and Kansas, knows that things are very seriously out of balance. It's corn and wheat as far as the eye can see out there, with huge rotating sprayers with long arms that shoot chemicals all over the plants.



Coca Cola would be a controlled substance if it were the "original formula." And probably illegal to buy. :-)

I just learned yesterday that you can get yarn made out of corn. Apparently it washes and wears well. But seriously. That seems so anti-eco-friendly (eco-unfriendly?). Corn takes so much effort to harvest then I'm sure turning it into yarn requires even more.

I do admit that I love corn though - we buy it frozen. We try to avoid too many things with corn syrup and other than my Coke love, we don't really do HFCS at all anymore.

I love how Coke says "original formula" on it and yet it has no cocaine and does have HFCS. Original to what, 1980?

Wow, good for you, April! I'm not a tomato fan, myself, but I've found some really strange and beautiful squash around here, as well as other rare and interesting specimens. I do love the way heirloom tomatoes look, though - there are so many amazing colors and patterns, I don't understand why anyone would choose a boring old red one!

I don't eat corn and soy because of the reasons you mentioned, and because for some reason I don't digest soy well anyway, so that's a very convincing reason to avoid it. I am a fanatical label-reader, and it drives other people crazy. I also steer clear of soy because of things I have read about areas of the Amazonian rain forest being cleared out to make room for more soy, due to increasing demand for it. That upset me very much, so I banned it.

I'm not sure if soy is grown in my area. Fortunately corn is, and when local corn shows up, I have no problem eating as many ears as I can get my hands on! Even if soy was grown around NY, I probably wouldn't eat any at all, because of it not agreeing with me.

I think it's funny that this topic turned to food - in my world, most conversations end up in the realm of food. :-)

Great suggestion Elizabeth! Supporting diversity in species is huge! Heirloom veggies are spendy, but worth it if you can afford and find them. I've been growing heirloom tomatos for the past 7 years and strongly recommend it! They're amazing and there are so many choices.

Elizabeth May wrote: "You're right, Michelle. Well said.

Ben - I'm still trying to find a book or some other source that is friendly to vegetarians who do not eat soy! One friend of mine recommended trying seitan, bu..."

I'm impressed that you've cut corn and soy out of your diet - no easy task in our society. I'm assuming that you do that to not support our insane conventional food system and to diversify what you put into your body. Are there other reasons? Have you considered eating locally/sustainably grown soy or corn in some amounts?

Michelle wrote: "Elizabeth May wrote: "Michelle wrote: "Biodiversity-

http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/organic/...
"


biodiversity is particularly important and interesting to me after I re..."

You're right, Michelle. Well said.

Ben - I'm still trying to find a book or some other source that is friendly to vegetarians who do not eat soy! One friend of mine recommended trying seitan, but I don't want to eat much wheat either, for other reasons.
All I can say is BEANS! Pinto beans, garbanzo beans, aduki beans, great northern beans, kidney beans, you get the idea! And the grain quinoa is a wonderful staple in my house - a complete protein with all 9 essential amino acids. Most people haven't heard of quinoa, because all they eat is rice and wheat products! But it's delicious and cooks in 15 minutes.


Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally is another book I have read that deals with biodiversity quite a bit, when the couple who wrote the book try a year of local food. They come across a man who is trying to grow all sorts of different types of each grain in order to keep them from disappearing, and makes some surprising discoveries about what can actually be grown in the Vancouver area in Canada. I thought it was really interesting. There are so many foods now that you and I haven't heard of, but were commonplace just a few generations ago.

I do understand that plant and animal species go extinct on their own more frequently than we can imagine, but there are some species that we really depend on for survival, and the smaller that number is, the more dangerous it is for humans. If we could gradually increase the variety of foods we eat - growing more heirloom vegetables, lesser known grains - there would be much less risk for widespread famine (in the event that some disease, extreme weather, or pest wipe out an entire species).

One way to help this is to BUY those heirloom vegetables when you see them at the store or at the farmer's market. If we buy them, those farmers will keep growing them. Many times they taste better and have different/more nutrients than what we're used to. When I have my own yard, I'll be growing lots of unusual and delicious things. :-)

This is also something I learned from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, which is one of my very very favorites. :-)

Not really, Ben. In his book, "The Omnivore's Dilemma" Michael Pollan diagnoses the attitude toward food: angst. While talking about the American attitude toward food, I could say that it's not only an American attitude today! (He wrote his book in 2006). We live in a world with a global food crisis.
Michael Pollan asks some questions: "The organic apple or the conventional? And if organic, the local or the imported? The wild fish or the farmed? The transfats or the butter or the 'not butter'? Shall I be a carnivore or a vegetarian? And if a vegetarian, a lacto-vegetarian or a vegan?"

Michael Pollan argues that our confusion about food stems from alienation: We don't know what to eat because we've forgotten where food comes from.

I'll have to read that book. Does it explain what vegetarians can do besides using soy?

Elizabeth May wrote: "Michelle wrote: "Biodiversity-

http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/organic/...
"


biodiversity is particularly important and interesting to me after I read
[b:The Omnivore's ..."

Yes, Elisabeth, "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan is an interesting reading. One of the best "green" book that I read this year. And I learned, too!
(Since 1998, I stopped eating soy and corn).
I appreciate your little post about Food Components. I'm very interested to learn more about this subject!

Michelle wrote: "Biodiversity-

http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/organic/...
"


biodiversity is particularly important and interesting to me after I read
The Omnivore's Dilemma because I learned so much about it. It's so frightening how we are losing so many different organisms - it could lead to a really detrimental problem in our food supply if we continue to rely on just a handful species extremely heavily.
This is one of the reasons I refuse to eat soy and I try very hard to avoid corn - but they put it in everything!
It's even in the cream I buy for my coffee! It's supposed to be just cream - I don't need mono- and di-glycerides in my dairy products.
But I just went pretty off-topic... sorry. :-)

This website is an initiative of the Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Commission as part of a campaign to increase awareness of organic farming throughout the European Union. It is the focal point of the campaign. Its general content is tailored towards consumers.




http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/organic/...

You'll find interesting topics in this website like:
- Glossary
- Water
- Biodiversity, etc........