Presented at the 2016 Southern Foodways Symposium
University of Mississipi
Oxford, MS
October 14, 2016
Mexico, where corn began, understands itself not only as a nation of corn-eaters, but as corn itself. One of that country’s best known idioms is Sin mais, no hay pais: Without corn, there is no country.
But as I look at what’s eaten in both Mexico and the U.S., I have to be honest: We eat an awful lot of Jiffy and Maseca.
