I just finished reading Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma and so far I’ve learned American’s are indeed Children of the Corn, Carbon-13 based life-forms, or walking corn chips. Maize has a special ability to absorb more carbon-13 isotope than other plants. Corn pervades our entire food chain from the high fructose corn syrup in our soft drinks to our corn-fed hamburgers.
Because of Corn’s ability to metabolize Carbon-13 it leaves an unmistakeable, mass-spectrometer fingerprint over our entire food chain in the US. Anyway, read the book. I will continue to remain an omnivore, though the book certainly explains why some people go vegan.
Just watched this talk given by Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms. His farm and philosophy were covered extensively in The Omnivore’s Dilemma.