Lunch, and pros and cons of the corn strike
Today’s lunch: Spaghetti with spicy cod roe and seaweed. Mmm :)
After going through my pantry, I’ve realized this is going to be easier for me than most.
First of all, I’m Japanese, so the food I cook at home is mostly rice, fish, vegetable, and buckwheat-based. The only things I had to give away were Honey Bunches of Oats (sort of sad, I love that cereal) and eggs.
Secondly, I’m a pescetarian (seafood, no meat), so I already don’t consume any meat :)
Momentary cons:
- I eat 5 meals a week at my university’s dining hall, and I’m sure that their food contains a lot of corn product.
- I like corn, and I like soup (stock is usually from chicken or beef). I also like the occasional sweet (especially now that it’s close to Halloween…)
- NO CHEESE. :(
Corn strike, Day 1: Shopping.
Soy milk, instant rice noodles (yeah yeah, I’m lazy and instant ramen apparently contains corn..), brown rice (I just wanted some), and surprisingly, shredded wheat cereal!
Kellogg’s Shredded Wheat uses HF corn syrup, but Post’s uses only sugar and brown sugar. How nice :)
I'm going on a corn strike.
I’ve been posting a lot of tech-related stuff recently (thanks, Microsoft) so lemme switch to another interest of mine: International Affairs.
For a week starting tomorrow, I’m going to try not to consume any corn or corn by-products.
Why? Put simply, the United States is the #1 consumer of corn - We Americans are almost entirely dependent upon it in our diets and lifestyle. That said, I don’t personally know just how much I’m dependent on it, and I’d like to find out. (Tomorrow I’ll explain in further detail why exactly I’m doing this not-so-crazy-but-still-kind-of-crazy stunt, and how this is actually related to international affairs and globalization.)
Anyway, here’s how I’m defining my corn strike:
- No corn, corn meal, corn starch, hydrogenated corn oil, etc.
- No food or drinks with high fructose corn syrup (no soda, some fruit juices, etc)
- No beef, pork, or chicken/eggs (their feed is corn-based)
- No milk (comes from cows that eat corn)
- No using cars or buses (corn-based ethanol)
- No biodegradable utensils from hip little eateries, since they’re made out of corn as well.
I will be…
- Using the T: I need to get around, so I’ll be using it. I think it’s classified as a light rail, and therefore electric anyway…but I’m not sure. If anyone would like to clarify this for me, please leave me a comment or email!
- Using toothpaste: I know it has corn in it, but I like brushing my teeth and being able to talk to people without knocking them out.
- Using antibiotics if needed: I’m not going to literally kill myself with this.
Throughout the upcoming week I’ll be posting pictures of my meals, any rants about the difficulties of this mission, and failures to avoid my corn-reliance. All the posts related to this will be tagged with “corn strike” and you’ll be able to see all of them by clicking the corn strike tag below. Feel free to leave any suggestions, questions, comments here on my Tumblr, or go ahead and email/IM me.
Wish me luck!
