Bushwick Urban Archaeology: Sugared Pepsi
As we have once again begun tackling the back yard, with much help from our fantastic new housemates, we’ve been uncovering a whole new stash of trash. Some of it is interesting enough to share, as a sort of dorky “urban archaeology” study. Won’t you join us as we uncover Bushwick’s depressing past as told by a single patch of dirt?
This find dates itself pretty well — Pepsi that still has the “-Cola” on the can, and sugar as the sweetener — something that went away in the early 80s as massively subsidized corn farming plus sugar tariffs brought us nearly free high-fructose corn syrup as compared to beet and cane sugar. As people are beginning to demand a return to sugar, more products are reintroducing it — especially since the ethanol debacle is making the price of corn skyrocket of late. Say, can we stop paying corn farmers to not farm now?
Nice find Jeremy. By the way, you hit on something there. With the introduction of corn based sugar, the American “fattening”trend began. Corn syrup (actually invented by the Japanese) is a cheap, way to make things sweet, soft, and last longer. It’s a god-send for food manufacturing but it is an artificial sugar and our bodies seem to have a hard time metabolizing the stuff so it usually gets sent directly to fat reserves. I challenge you to count how many products at the local supermarket Don’t list Corn syrup as an ingredient. It’s in everything!
The ironic thing there is that the Japanese use so much stevia in their sweetened products!
Nice find and great observation.
http://www.CornSyrupKills.net
I hate it and try to avoid it when obviously possible…
but if i was paying attention i would’ve bought some futures in
high fructose corn syrup. Cuz we Amurican fatties will always need our sodas. And lots of corn is drowned.
amazing pix here.
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/06/mississippi_floodwaters_in_iow.html