Popcorn: A 5,600 Year-Old Treat.

From the movies, to sporting events, to our living room couch, popcorn has been a fixture in American culture. With an agricultural production stemming back hundreds, if not thousands of years, the commercial production of popcorn is fairly recent. It wasn’t until the 1880’s that popcorn was documented in farmer’s seed catalogs and after that the United States began producing in over half the states what is now the majority of the world’s production.

According to The Kitchen Project, popcorn originated in Mesoamerica. Anthropologist Herbert Dick and botanist Earle Smith discovered the oldest popcorn known to date in the “Bat Cave” located in west central New Mexico in 1948. The popcorn the pair found was carbon-dated to be more than 5,600 years old. Scholars believe that popcorn wasn’t first consumed in the same manner we eat it today. They presume popcorn was first made by throwing the kernels on to heated sand or stones, then sifted and pounded into a fine powder, which was then mixed with water and eaten as a kind of cereal. Colonists also used this technique mixing ground popcorn with milk instead of water.

Historic remnants of popcorn have been found primarily in Latin America. The Kitchen Project also reports that a 4th century A.D. Mexican Zapotec funeral urn was found with sketches illustrating a corn god with popcorn in his headdress. In Peru, primitive popcorn poppers have been found on the northern coast dating back to 300 A.D. In southwest Utah, a 1,000 year old popped kernel was found in a dry cave that was inhabited by predecessors of the Pueblo Indians.
Popcorn seems to be one of the few food commodities that America introduced to the Europeans rather than vice versa. Whats Cooking America explains that exploration of the New World introduced Hernando Cortes to popcorn in 1519. He documented popcorn in his travel journals saying the Aztecs used it for ceremonial wreaths, necklaces and ornamental jewelry. Columbus also was introduced to popcorn during his exploration of the New World and made note that the Native Americans also used popcorn for decorative purposes, and sold it to sailors. French explorers also documented popcorn used by the Iroquois Indians around 1612 who popped corn in pottery using hot sand and then placing it over a campfire.

The first Thanksgiving dinner depicted the story of Native Americans bringing popcorn to share with the Pilgrims. At that time the way to prepare and eat popcorn was to hold an oiled ear of corn over fire and then eat the popped kernels right off the cob. The Pilgrims made their own variation to the consumption of popcorn by eating it as a cereal and serving a bowl of popcorn with cream or milk. What is known today as kettle corn was made in the 18th century when rendered fat would be thrown into a cast iron pot sitting over an open fire. When the fat was hot, farmers would toss in popcorn kernels with a sweetener such as molasses. Rendered fat has since been replaced by corn oil and sugar to make the kettle corn we eat today.

From the 1840’s onward, popping corn became a popular recreational activity in the U.S. Thirty years later, popcorn was sold in grocery stores and at events like carnivals, circuses and fairs. According to JollyTime by 1885 the first commercial popcorn machine wasmade by C. Cretors and Co. This invention spurred the sale of popcorn by vendors, who typically sold around movie theaters, creating the tradition of enjoying popcorn at the movies. As the popularity of the moves increased, so did eating popcorn at the movies.

Popcorn balls, unpopped kernels and popcorn became the rage as movies became a huge part of American culture. Popcorn was enjoyed by all ages and was still used as festive decorations, particularly during Christmas, as the puffed snack adorned trees. In 1912 commerical poppers appeared in movie theaters and by 1945 nearly half of all popcorn was consumed in movie theaters. Popcorn then turned into recipes such as Cracker Jacks, brittle, fritters, pudding and more. Wikipedia explains the Depression of the late 1920’s made popcorn a luxury item that at 10 cents a bag, poorer families could still afford. The popcorn business continued thriving during this time because the sugar ration made enjoying candy nearly impossible. When television began taking over the movies, the popcorn business faced it first downfall. However it picked itself back up with the invention of home-popped popcorn. Today, popcorn is as popular as ever as Americans consume nearly 17 billion quarts a year.

Meat: To Eat or Not To Eat?

Pollan isn't the first to inform me about animal cruelty on farms, and the disturbing details that surround the farm to the butcher process. I've watched enough 20/20 specials to know that conditions on farms aren't always in the best interest of the animal, rather the focus is on what is the most profitable to the farming business.

Despite knowing what I do, I still eat and will continue to eat meat. However, now I have almost a sense of guilt that if I support the farmers who leave the animals in these conditions by purchasing their products, that in some way I am support the very act of cruelty. However, this passage from Pollan eases my mind:

"The farmer would point out that even vegans have a ''serious clash of interests'' with other animals. The grain that the vegan eats is harvested with a combine that shreds field mice, while the farmer's tractor crushes woodchucks in their burrows, and his pesticides drop songbirds from the sky. Steve Davis, an animal scientist at Oregon State University, has estimated that if America were to adopt a strictly vegetarian diet, the total number of animals killed every year would actually increase, as animal pasture gave way to row crops. Davis contends that if our goal is to kill as few animals as possible, then people should eat the largest possible animal that can live on the least intensively cultivated land: grass-fed beef for everybody. It would appear that killing animals is unavoidable no matter what we choose to eat."

Now, the choice is in my hand. I could choose to go vegetarian or vegan and still play a role in harm of animals or I could continue consuming meat but be more responsible in what meat I consume. Pollan's book has encouraged me to seek out grass-fed beef along with other organic products. This way I can continue eating the foods I love and enjoy with less guilt.

My Guilty Pleasure.

As I was reading Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma, I was thinking to myself that he wrote in a manner that had me expecting him to have a list of "Commandments" for consuming food. Coincidentally with his new novel, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto, low and behold, he has created a list of (twelve, not ten) commandments:

1. "Don't eat anything your grandmother wouldn't recognize as food."
2. "Avoid foods containing ingredients you can't pronounce."
3. "Don't eat anything that won't eventually rot."
4. "Avoid food products that carry health claims."
5. "Shop the peripheries of the supermarket; stay out of the middle."
6. "Better yet, buy food somewhere else: the farmers' market or CSA."
7. "Pay more, eat less."
8. "Eat a wide variety of species."
9. "Eat food from animals that eat grass."
10. "Cook, and if you can, grow some of your own food."
11. "Eat meals and eat them only at tables."
12. "Eat deliberately, with other people whenever possible, and always with pleasure."

My guilty food pleasure, Cake Batter icecream from ColdStone's breaks all of these commandments. For example, here is the ingredient list, courtesy of ColdStoneCreamery.com:

SWEET CREAM ICE CREAM (Cream, Nonfat Milk, Milk, Sugar, Corn Syrup, Guar Gum,
Cellulose Gum, Carrageenan, Mono & Diglycerides, Polysorbate 80, and Annatto Extract), CAKEBATTER (Enriched Flour Bleached (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate,riboflavin, folic acid), Sugar, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Leavening (sodium bicarbonate, sodium aluminum phosphate, aluminum sulfate, monocalcium phosphate) Corn Syrup, Dextrose, Food Starch-Modified, Emulsifier (soy lecithin, propylene glycol monoester, mono-diglycerides), Salt , Xanthan Gum, Natural and Artificial Flavors (contains milk derivatives),Annatto (color), Turmeric (color))

I put in bold the ingredients I actually could identify. As you can see, both corn and soybeans are an ingredient in this product and as Pollan taught us through his book, they are unfortunately the backbone to many food products in the United States. You wouldn't think in that scoop of icecream were traces of corn and soybean! Also, of course milk is an ingredient and Pollan's book has scared me away from consuming non-organic dairy products!

Alluring as it may be to get a cold scoop of Cake Batter icecream for me as a tasty treat on a hot day, Pollan's book has truly opened my eyes. I now find myself scrutinizing labels, and have made the switch from generic chain grocery stores to the more organic Trader Joe's. Pollan's book, in a sense, has changed my life. In the least, it has changed the way I look at food and has instilled in me an awareness that wasn't present prior to reading Omnivore's Dilemma.

Cooking The Connection to my Heritage

Growing up in a bi-racial household, I felt a strong connection to the foods from my culture, in particular those associated with my Mexican heritage. My parents spent the first few years of their marriage living in Mexico and there my mother, although not Mexican herself, picked up the cooking techniques of my Abuela, or "Tita" as we call her. My mom learned how to make enchiladas, fajitas, tacos, burritos, chimichangas, nachos, tortas, guacamole, menudo, taquitos, tamales and though I was born and raised in the United States, these foods made a regular appearance on the dinner table. As I grew older I wanted to take it upon myself to become proficient in cooking these meals so when I moved away from home, I could take a part of it with me.

Shortly after I moved away from college, I mastered making tacos. Not the kind from Taco Bell that come in a hard store-bought shell with canned refried beans and some tomatoes and lettuce, but real tacos with steak, jalepeños, green chiles, fresh onions and more wrapped in a corn shell, cooked in oil. I was proud of my work and happy to see that I could make an authentic dish that not only I enjoyed making, but others enjoyed eating.

Cooking a product of my cultural heritage created for me an experience that made my personal connection to my racial identity stronger. In ways I felt I lacked Mexican culture (such as mastery of the Spanish language), learning to cook authentic Mexican foods bridged a gap for me and brought my in deeper to my heritage with a newfound appreciation.

Genetically Modified Organisms

The movie and the novel opened my eyes to the betrayal of the FDA in their decision to withhold the ingredient list off GMO's off of food products for reasons of liability. Our class discussion was focused heavily on this topic as well, as many were concerned to find out GMO's may contain ingredients hazardous to our health. The thought that the food I consume may have been injected with pesticides is troubling. Also the fact that the majority of GMO's are soybeans and corn syrup and are in virtually countless products makes this issue seem beyond control.

With the current food crisis at hand, it seems ridiculous to think it is based on a shortage of food. GMO's make it seem like food production and politics are to blame in this dilemma, when the real problem at hand is what we are putting in our food and the unforseen risks associated with this.

Obento Box

For the Obento activity, my classmate Ashley carefully and most artistically created a person out of the rice ball and condiments she placed in the bento box. The rice ball was stuffed with salmon flakes with peas for eyes and a beet for its mouth. Tofu made up the body, snap peas made up the arms and cucumbers made up the legs. The rice ball was wrapped in nori and the hair of the character was sweetened seaweed.

The box was creative and aesthetically pleasing. It was balanced in the amount of food and the color of condiments were complimentary to one another. The taste and flavors also were complimentary. The salmon, nori and the rice went together perfectly. The vegetables each had their own unique taste to add to an enjoyable experience of eating Ashley's Obento box.

Blackberry Memories

"Food to a large extent is what holds a society together and eating is closely linked to deep spiritual experiences."
-'Consuming Passions: The Anthropology of Eating' Peter Farb and George Armelagos

Food is so closely linked to my past memories. From elaborate Thanksgiving dinners with the family to anniversaries, birthdays and special occasions, food and celebration go hand in hand. However, food is a social connecter through ordinary moments as well and the association it imprints on your memory is just as impactful.

Growing up, I would spend several weeks each summer with my grandparents at their house on Whidbey Island, where I was born and my mother grew up. Before housing developments starting encroaching on my grandparents home, there was a nearly ten foot wall of blackberry bushes I would spend afternoons picking with my family. Although I couldn't help but prick myself several times throughout the process, I knew the end result would be a sweet reward. We would take buckets of blackberries back into the house and my grandma wouldn't emerge from the kitchen for hours, poring over blackberry pie and blackberry jam.

Nothing is more delicious than homemade jam or a hot pie baked from scratch. This kind of authentic cooking has sadly waned on me, as I have a lot to learn in the kitchen, but I can't eat a blackberry now without being brought back to warm summers on Whidbey Island and a fragrant kitchen.

Feliz Navidad & Tamales

One of my fondest memories I connect to food is the tradition of eating homemade tamales around Christmas time with my family in Mexico. Tamales are essentially corn meal dough made from hominy and are wrapped in a corn husk (or plantain leaf, depending on the region) often filled with pork or chicken and chilies. Making them by hand requires hours of labor (generally two days!) due to the long process of cooking down and thickening the corn flour base. Both are a popular meal in Latin America, the U.S. and the Caribbean as well as a special holiday treat. In Mexico, tamales can also be found served from street vendors on bustling city corners. They have increasingly become popular in the southwestern states of the U.S. due to the influx of Latino families and eating them around Christmastime is catching on as tradition as well. I spent many Christmas' down in Mexico with my family as a child.
In Mexico, gifts are typically opened on Christmas Eve and I recall always eating tamales with a cup of hot cocoa before diving into my presents.

Here is a recipe from The Food Network, enjoy!:

Beef Tamales
Copyright 2001 Television Food Network, G.P. All rights reserved

Ingredients


2 pounds beef shoulder roast 


Salt and pepper, to taste 


2 onions, peeled and sliced 


1 garlic bulb, cloves removed and peeled 


4 ounces dried New Mexico chilies 


2 ounces ancho chiles 


2 ounces pasilla chiles 


2 tablespoons cumin seed, toasted 


1 tablespoons salt 


2 bags dried corn husks, about 3 dozen 


4 cups masa mix

1 tablespoon baking powder

2 teaspoons salt

4 cups reserved beef broth, warm

1 cup vegetable shortening

Directions
Season the beef shoulder all over with salt and pepper then brown in a large heavy pot over medium heat. Once browned on all sides, add enough water to cover the roast along with the 1 sliced onion and about 6 cloves of garlic. Cook until the meat is fork tender and comes apart with no resistance, about 2 hours. When done, remove the roast to a platter to cool, reserve the beef broth. Hand shred the meat and set aside. To prepare the sauce, remove the tops of the dried chilies and shake out most of the seeds. Place the chilies in a large stockpot and cover them with water. Add the cumin, remaining sliced onion and garlic. Boil for 20 minutes until the chiles are very soft. Transfer the chiles to a blender using tongs and add a ladle full of the chile water (it is best to do this in batches.) Puree the chiles until smooth. Pass the pureed chiles through a strainer to remove the remaining seeds and skins. Pour the chili sauce into a large bowl and add salt, stir to incorporate. Taste to check seasonings, add more if necessary. Add the shredded beef to the bowl of chili sauce, and mix thoroughly. Refrigerate until ready to use. Go through the dried cornhusks, separate them and discard the silk, be careful since the husks are fragile when dry. Soak them in a sink filled with warm water for 30 minutes to soften. In a deep bowl, combine the masa, baking powder, and salt. Pour the broth into the masa a little at a time, working it in with your fingers. In a small bowl, beat the vegetable shortening until fluffy. Add it to the masa and beat until the dough has a spongy texture. Rinse, drain, and dry the corn husks. Set them out on a sheet pan covered by a damp towel along with the bowls of masa dough and beef in chili sauce. Start with the largest husks because they are easier to roll. Lay the husk flat on a plate or in your hand with the smooth side up and the narrow end facing you. Spread a thin, even layer of masa over the surface of the husk with a tablespoon dipped in water. Do not use too much! Add about a tablespoon of the meat filling in the center of the masa. Fold the narrow end up to the center then fold both sides together to enclose the filling. The sticky masa will form a seal. Pinch the wide top closed. Stand the tamales up in a large steamer or colander with the pinched end up. Load the steamer into a large pot filled with 2-inches of water. The water should not touch the tamales. Lay a damp cloth over the tamales and cover with lid. Keep the water at a low boil, checking periodically to make sure the water doesn't boil away. Steam the tamales for 2 hours. The tamales are done when the inside pulls away from the husk. The tamale should be soft, firm and not mushy. To serve, unfold the husk and spoon about a tablespoon of remaining beef filling on top.

Recipe:http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/cooking/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_15151,00.html)
Image: www.fresnobeehive.com