Food Politics

Patterson Bans Corn from Coi

Corn is in pretty much everything these days, as Michael Pollan showed us in The Omnivore’s Dilemma, but one place you won’t find it is in Daniel Patterson’s kitchen. The Coi chef has banned the sweet yellow kernels from his restaurant, explaining in an article for San Francisco magazine that they’re just too overpowering: “I’m tired of trying to create a balanced dish with an ingredient that tastes like it’s been impregnated with simple syrup.” The “monolithic” sweetness, Patterson explains, comes from the way corn varieties have been hybridized to increase sugar content. “Full Belly Farm used to grow Silverado, a replacement for the now heirloom Silver Queen, until the seed was discontinued 12 years ago owing to lack of demand—it wasn’t sweet enough.”

Fed Up With Corn [San Francisco]

Patterson Bans Corn from Coi