Watch and Discuss: King Corn

Growing up in the Midwest, I have very fond memories of corn.  Sweet corn was something I looked forward to every year in late summer.  I do still love corn even though nowadays, it seems that corn is getting a fairly bad rap. OPB will be airing King Corn on Tuesday, April 15 at 10 pm.  Here's the overview:

"Almost everything Americans eat contains corn - high-fructose corn  syrup, corn-fed meat and corn-based processed foods are staples of the fast-food nation. Record harvests of corn are supported by a government subsidy program that promotes production well beyond market demand.

Filmmakers Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis decided to grow an acre of corn in rural Iowa and then document its path from farm to consumption. In America's industrial kitchens, they confront the realities of corn's uses: sweetening the sodas of a diabetes-plagued neighborhood in Brooklyn, fattening cattle in Colorado, making fast food cheap and consumers unhealthy, and driving animals into confinement and farmers off the land. Check OPB Independent Lens for additional scheduling."

Have you seen it?  What do you think? Are you a compulsive label reader and generally steer clear of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS)?

Comments

[LTF]

I started avoiding HFCS with the kids. The thing that gets me is that - from what I understand - the body has trouble processing it in some way that actually makes you gain fat faster than other sweeteners. I have read about this film and would love to watch it. What a project the filmmakers undertook. Thanks for letting us know about it.

[Nic]

Just FYI/BTW ... My TiVo and I found this listed under "Independent Lens" (the name of the series). OPB's website doesn't have that 4/21 7am repeat listed and TiVo agrees that there is only one showing. Thanks so much for posting this, I hadn't heard of it but now I can't wait to see it. Thanks.

[LTF]

Great article on HFCS on Treehugger: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/07/corn-syrup-producers-advertise.php