23. Corn

Corn is a word claimed by Americans to mean something very specific. It is not, as the original and current British definition, a synonym of grain. Here corn is a plant that grows anywhere from 3’ to 15’ tall with large tassels at the top and ears on its stalk that have row after row of kernels. This native plant is also known as maize. Field corn is perfectly worthless for human consumption but you will see fields upon fields of it in this country as a staple food for our cattle. But we Americans like corn every bit as much as our cows (probably even more), we just prefer the sweet variety. We eat it in myriads of ways from just gnawing it directly off the cob to soaking it in lye and turning it into hominy. We grind it up into flour and cornmeal for breads, tortillas, hush puppies and Johnny cake. We pop it and coat it in butter and salt or some sugary concoctions (often just made of that very corn itself distilled into corn syrup). While you can find some varieties of corn in Europe, most Europeans view all our American “maize” as unfit for human consumption, though you’ll still find a popped variety in their cinemas and they do sweeten some of their beverages with high fructose corn syrup. It is a distinctly American food, shared with our brethren in all of North and South America. But it is in our US melting pot that we have concocted the plethora of ways to consume that oh so a-maizing grain. And however corny it may sound, I, for one, am grateful for corn.