Read on Twitter
I am once again begging you all to take four seconds to google things before you share them https://twitter.com/dakotalewis_/status/1381296367457468430
we did not “genetically change” naturally occurring disco-corn to yellow and white corn for some sort of nebulously defined nefarious purposes
the multicolored corn in that picture is a strain of corn called Glass Gem Corn, and it was developed through selective breeding - form of genetic modification - in 1994
if this corn was a person it would barely be old enough to rent a car
if this corn was a person it would barely be old enough to rent a car
the “original form” of corn is that hard string of green grass seeds on the far left
the indigenous people of Mexico began selectively breeding that grass - called teosinte - roughly 9000 years ago, eventually domesticating it into the maize and corn we’re familiar with today
incidentally, we don’t tend to eat colourful corns right off the cob because they are “flint corns” - they are not sweet, and have a hard outer kernel that makes the corn more difficult to eat
they are ground into cornmeal or treated with an alkali to make hominy
they are ground into cornmeal or treated with an alkali to make hominy
also if you were a child in the 1990s your mom probably had a stack of hard decorative corns that she brought out as festive decor every thanksgiving
the yellow sweetcorn we eat off the cob was cultivated by Native Americans hundreds of years ago, and certainly isn’t new
the Iroquois first introduced it to white European settlers in 1779, although they had likely been growing it for a very long time before that
the Iroquois first introduced it to white European settlers in 1779, although they had likely been growing it for a very long time before that
we tend to eat predominantly yellow sweetcorn today - rather than white sweetcorn - because the yellow stuff contains beta carotene, a pigment that our bodies convert to vitamin A during digestion, giving it a slight nutritional edge over white corn
colonization is a bottomless well of horrors, but the existence of sweetcorn is not one of those horrors. it exists because of the skill and ingenuity of generations of indigenous people, who cultivated it long before contact with europeans.
we owe all existing forms of corn - yellow, white, multi-coloured or otherwise - to the indigenous people who skillfully bred them over thousands of years.
treating yellow sweetcorn as some sort of unnatural modern horror is... not the take you think it is.
treating yellow sweetcorn as some sort of unnatural modern horror is... not the take you think it is.
incidentally, squash, beans, cocoa, avocados, papaya, peppers and other staples of your local produce aisle have similar origin stories, being domesticated by indigenous peoples from inedible or minimally edible wild plants
anyway, here's an article on the domestication of corn, because you shouldn't take strangers on twitter at face value, even if they are me https://blog.nationalgeographic.org/2009/03/23/corn-domesticated-from-mexican-wild-grass-8700-years-ago/
the corn you buy at the store today has been selectively bred to be much sweeter and longer-lasting than indigenous strains, but if you're interested in the revival of indigenous corn, I have good news for you https://civileats.com/2018/04/20/an-indigenous-corn-makes-a-comeback/
anyway this has been an excessively long thread about corn domestication posted at 2am local time, please be skeptical about things you read on the internet
