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?
June 18th, 2008 at 6:51 am
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!
June 18th, 2008 at 9:30 am
The ironic thing there is that the Japanese use so much stevia in their sweetened products!
June 18th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Nice find and great observation.
http://www.CornSyrupKills.net
June 19th, 2008 at 1:19 am
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