{"id":823,"date":"2008-05-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-05-05T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chisnell.www216-119-142-248.a2hosted.com\/chizblog\/?p=823"},"modified":"2017-08-07T03:48:41","modified_gmt":"2017-08-07T03:48:41","slug":"year-of-the-potato-for-corn-eaters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/year-of-the-potato-for-corn-eaters\/","title":{"rendered":"Year of the Potato \u2013 For Corn Eaters"},"content":{"rendered":"

I just found out today\u2014please don\u2019t ask me how\u2014that 2008 is the International Year of the Potato<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s IYP, for those of you who are on the inside track.<\/p>\n

Who knew such amazing facts as 1\/3 of all the world\u2019s potatoes are grown in China and India, that Dan Quayle still can\u2019t spell the word, and that McDonald\u2019s fries have more corn in them than potatoes (at least, as far as calories are concerned)?<\/p>\n

The United Nations has gone all out with the spuds, producing a\u00a0high-tech video<\/a>, a complete history of the food, and a contest for the best potato recipe and photographs.\u00a0\u00a0And there are holidays and festivals around the world:\u00a0\u00a0if you can\u2019t make this month\u2019s Potato Congress in Ecuador, you may want to go to Fort Fairfield, Maine this July for the nine day Potato Blossom Festival featuring concerts, beauty pageants, sports, and mashed potato wrestling.<\/p>\n

As important, potatoes are the fourth most important food staple, after wheat, rice (which had its year in 2004\u2014\"\"sorry you missed it), and\u2014of course\u2014corn, which is the Number One food source for Americans and the world.<\/p>\n

It might be safe to say\u2014as Michael Pollen does in\u00a0The Omnivore\u2019s Dilemma<\/em>\u2014that humans have evolved into the \u201ckoalas of corn.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Heavily subsidized by the federal government, corn is remarkably cheap and is therefore overgrown and used for nearly everything food-related.\u00a0\u00a0It fattens our beef (in a most unnatural and even unhealthy way, often complicating cattle digestion; cows are therefore fed antibiotics to offset its effects); milled, it is ethanol for our gas tanks; it thickens fast food milkshakes; it\u2019s the oil in margarine; it\u2019s packed into bread and vitamins; it holds together the bits of meat in a \u201cchicken\u201d McNugget, and it replaces sugar as an infamous sweetener (high fructose corn syrup) in many of our foods, including ketchup, yogurt, salad dressing, and soda.<\/p>\n

\"\"More, each bushel of corn grown uses up to a third of a gallon of oil, with all of its environmental and political problems.\u00a0\u00a0And it produces an economic paradox, says Pollen:\u00a0\u00a0the more corn we produce, the cheaper the cost.\u00a0\u00a0The cheaper the cost, the farmer reasons, the more need to grow more corn next season to increase profits.\u00a0\u00a0The more corn that is grown, the more we need to seek places to use it.\u00a0\u00a0Thus we create ethanol for our cars, and we bleach the nutrients out of it to make our breakfast cereals (and then feel better when those cereals are re-\u201cfortified\u201d with essential vitamins, also made from corn).<\/p>\n

Debate rages on about biofuels.\u00a0\u00a0Will growing corn for fuel reduce the amount of food necessary for the world population?\u00a0\u00a0Rather than detail the argument here, I will merely refer to the above paragraph.\u00a0\u00a0As important, the increased production of corn displaces other crops which might also benefit the need for diversity in our food supply.<\/p>\n

Want a good read?\u00a0\u00a0Pick up Pollen\u2019s book<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0In the meantime, I have to check the ingredients list on my box of Ore-Ida\u2019s.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I just found out today\u2014please don\u2019t ask me how\u2014that 2008 is the International Year of the Potato.\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s IYP, for those of you who are on the inside track. Who knew such amazing facts as 1\/3 of all the world\u2019s potatoes are grown in China and India, that Dan Quayle still can\u2019t spell the word, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1562,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[247,273],"tags":[451,452,419,453,454,455],"class_list":["post-823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chizblog","category-green","tag-biofuel","tag-corn","tag-oil","tag-omnivore","tag-pollen","tag-potato"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2008\/05\/corn-oil.jpg?fit=261%2C281&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1742,"url":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/american-road-trip-1-south-dakota-to-iowa\/","url_meta":{"origin":823,"position":0},"title":"American Road Trip 1: South Dakota to Iowa","author":"Steve Chisnell","date":"2009 Aug 6","format":false,"excerpt":"Day Fourteen: The Badlands to the Middle of Nowhere [Obviously, finding an internet location today was difficult, so I am behind in uploading my updates!] The storm over South Dakota's badlands was serious enough for a few to lose their tents. Mine held and I slept soundly! My early morning\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ChizBlog"","block_context":{"text":"ChizBlog","link":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/category\/chizblog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/04\/080609_0251_AmericanRoa5.jpg?fit=485%2C313&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1709,"url":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/american-road-trip-missouri-and-kansas\/","url_meta":{"origin":823,"position":1},"title":"American Road Trip 2: Missouri and Kansas","author":"Steve Chisnell","date":"2012 Jul 18","format":false,"excerpt":"Corn corn corn corn. I knew the long haul across Kansas would be a challenge. So I started the morning off by being the first one to charge into the over-advertised Meramec Caverns. Truly, they are extensive, and I admit I've never seen such an impressive array of different formations.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ChizBlog"","block_context":{"text":"ChizBlog","link":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/category\/chizblog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/04\/080313_1800_AmericanRoa1.jpg?fit=352%2C231&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":791,"url":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/the-main-ingredient\/","url_meta":{"origin":823,"position":2},"title":"The Main Ingredient","author":"Steve Chisnell","date":"2011 Jan 21","format":false,"excerpt":"I watched the couple in Kroger last week as they moved down one of the over-processed center aisles. \"Look!' exclaimed the woman all too loudly as she picked up the bright yellow box of Kroger's Frosted Fudge Toaster Treats. \"These look good!\" She dutifully glanced over the nutrition label and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ChizBlog"","block_context":{"text":"ChizBlog","link":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/category\/chizblog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/04\/013011_0446_TheMainIngr2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":829,"url":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/velvet-memories\/","url_meta":{"origin":823,"position":3},"title":"Velvet Memories","author":"Steve Chisnell","date":"2009 Mar 29","format":false,"excerpt":"Fresh. Pure. Delicious. Made fresh daily in Detroit. Most of us don't think of the late 1960s as the Golden Age of the peanut butter sandwich. I do. It was a time when my grandmother would make sandwiches with Smucker's jelly and Velvet Peanut Butter. I don't know how many\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ChizBlog"","block_context":{"text":"ChizBlog","link":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/category\/chizblog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/04\/033009_0344_VelvetMemor1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1721,"url":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/kathmandu\/","url_meta":{"origin":823,"position":4},"title":"Kathmandu","author":"Steve Chisnell","date":"2009 Jun 17","format":false,"excerpt":"Kathmandu is sari\u2019ed women riding side-saddle on Yamasaki motorcycles as they pass by Magar girls in low-hipped jeans. It is a young police officer cornered roughly and shoved against a bus panel as he tries to issue a traffic ticket. A Rahani-era roundabout imitates Piccadilly Circus but has a crumbling\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ChizBlog"","block_context":{"text":"ChizBlog","link":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/category\/chizblog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/08\/nepal-bricks.jpeg?fit=448%2C326&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1706,"url":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/american-road-trip-2-indiana-and-illinois\/","url_meta":{"origin":823,"position":5},"title":"American Road Trip 2: Indiana and Illinois","author":"Steve Chisnell","date":"2012 Jul 15","format":false,"excerpt":"Nothing necessarily insightful about these next few posts, but more an account of some of the highlights of my second American Road Trip. This time I will be taking two specific roads while traveling to Vegas and back: Route 50, called the \"Loneliest Road in America,\" and Route 66, of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ChizBlog"","block_context":{"text":"ChizBlog","link":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/category\/chizblog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/04\/071513_0434_AmericanRoa3.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=823"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1563,"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823\/revisions\/1563"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}