everyday food

"some basic foodstuffs stand out among the plants that came to have enormous importance in the making of the modern world: th0ose foods that were an integral part of a daily diet, such as tortillas, bread, and rice, an essential part of all meals rather than a side dish. sixteenth century spaniards called them more precisely, maintenance foods. this type of food provides the greatest share of daily calories, the energy to sustain human activity, and other essential nutrients. it is with maintenance foods that we most often associate the idea of hunger or its counterpart, a sensation of being full and satisfied...corn, or more properly maize ( zea mays ), and potatoes (solanum tuberosum) stand out among the basic american subsistence foodstuffs as tremendously important."

corn and capitalism by arturo warman.

so...what are my maintenance foods? carbohydrates without doubt and up until a few years ago probably derived form corn in some fashion...not the maize that migrated north from mexico...or even sweet corn like the plant on campus in the top photo..more like some sort of industrial preparation made from dense yellow number two field corn ( once again i cannot recommend the film "king corn" strongly enough ) when i was hungry and in a hurry ( or just lazy ) i'd nuke a hot pocket and slug back some dr. pepper both of which are as corny as indiana in july...then food and how it gets to me became a subject of intense and abiding interest...the more i learned the more appalled i became and i set about changing habitual behavior...dense yellow number two no longer has as central a place in what i eat ( do i backslide? am i human? no holier than thou please...i just had a couple of scoops of ice cream in a bowl and i bet if i look at the ingredients there's high fructose corn syrup in there...i still eat a hamburger now and then too [not form a fast food joint] and that's all corn too)...the potato patch in the second photo represents more lifelong carbohydrate consumption and an american staple perennial that is world class...i always liked a good potato and still do...especially when i can smother it in my favorite potato condiments ( more corn in the dairy products, along with antibiotics, growth hormones, and who knows what else...even working at it consciously industrial food is so prevalent it is tough to avoid completely)...the winter wheat in my backyard could become bread which used to be a staple in my diet...but no so much anymore...i find that by reducing my meat consumption i have reduced my bread consumption as well...wheat in the form of pasta is a more likely part of a meal these days ( and i have taken to making my own...a bit time consuming but not difficult..just messy like pyrohy)...that is clearly an old world plant...the bottom photo is another american starchy tuber that i have developed a taste for and am growing in force this year both at home and on campus...jerusalem artichokes are a member of the sunflower family native to north america ( and speaking of sunflowers, i find that sunflower seeds have become a daily part of my diet...especially in conjunction with an apple at breakfast...it's a good combination...for me anyway) and a prolific producer of irregularly shaped tubers with storage issues that i am working on resolving ( i have a rough plan that still involves a trench with a few simple refinements) it has the advantage of having a well defined season for consumption which is an idea i like...haven
t eaten one since march and probably won't eat one until late september or early october...something to look forward to...change, especially changing habitual behavior in oneself, is a slow process fraught with detours and u-turns...i am actively trying to change what i eat and why i eat it so my maintenance foods are in flux in both their sources and the form they take...occasionally aggravating but not often boring.