I discussed the movie King Corn it with my 14 year old nephew. He’s the king of soft drinks, icees, candy and fast food. I quoted a line from the film that when you eat at McDonald’s, “everything on your plate has corn in it.” Jason’s penchant is to name things to prove any adult declaration wrong until the adult collapses from exhaustion!
In the film, the most common meal was mentioned: burger, fries and soda. The hamburger came from a corn-fed cow. French fries are crisped in corn oil. The soft drink is sweetened with high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). After naming 10 other things one can eat at McDonald’s and saying “oh” as I explained the corn connection, he came up with coffee. Good one! But if you put milk or cream in it, you’re back to the corn-fed cow.
I haven’t been in a McDonald’s for years, except to use their impeccably clean and always easy-to-find restrooms. But the McDonald’s Menu is available online. I read it to find items unrelated to corn. These items have not been verified; they’re just my best guess as corn-free.
Nothing from column 1.
Column 2: the first non-corn item we come to is the salt packet. Still in column 2, there are three salads without meat (chickens are also corn-fed). Were these to be eaten without salad dressing, they might be corn-free. (Most salad dressings and sauces contain HFCS. Some Newman’s varieties are HFCS free, and Mickey D’s does carry Newman’s. Fast Food Facts claims McDonald’s barbecue and sweet n’ sour sauces are also HFCS-free.)
- Plain English muffin, biscuit and hotcakes without syrup.
- Peanuts for sundaes
- Possibly cinnamon melts and the cookies. (But if mass-produced, they could contain HFCS.)
Possibly corn free:
- Filet-O-Fish® – could have corn starch or crumbs in the breading. Farmed fish in some areas are fed vegetable oils and grains.
- Do the butter garlic croutons have real butter? And corn oil or shortening used to make the bread?
Corn free:
- Apple dippers
- Classic Coke
- Hi-C® Orange Lavaburst
- Coffee
- Tea
- Sugar
I’m not talking about edible corn, like corn on the cob from your local market. Yesterday’s blog was about industrial corn. The makers of King Corn tried to get all corn out of their diets for a month. It was too hard. But trying it for a week would certainly make us all more aware, wouldn’t it?