The rise of culture and tradition has often translated into food. Food was the main part of the culture. It described how the people of that culture would live out their days. As the source of food changed, so did cultural practices. This cultural phenomenon is often linked to food which constitutes the main caloric source of that culture. For many cultures, the crop richest in calories and nutrients was corn. Corn has gone from being a primary source of calories in the culture to an unavoidable source of starch and sugars in the culture, especially in American culture. Maize was a vital element in the culture and has been woven into the culture since 7000 BC. The people of the Mesoamerican culture perfected modern maize for the purpose of producing larger quantities of maize. Corn contained a greater amount of food than other cereals in the world such as wheat, rice or barley (Gonzalez). Due to its high production, maize became the main source of livelihood for many families. It was made into tortillas as the family's basis of subsistence. Most of the calories consumed by families of this time came from corn. Despite how many years have passed, many families still live on corn. However, the new version of corn consumption is through high fructose corn syrups and corn-fed meats (King Corn). Both cultural versions, the current one and the past one, consider corn an important element for the economy. Modern cultures still thrive on corn, however these cultures do not revere it like those of the past did. In addition to being a key part of a culture's diet, corn linked social responsibilities to a culture's core concepts. Before the Catholic religion established itself in the lands of Mesoamerica, ethnographic sources reveal evidence of a plethora of rituals p...... middle of document ...... Erican Association for the Advancement of Science, Stable Article URL: http ://www.jstor.org/stable/1713608(McAfee) Maize Crop and Dangerous DNA: Real and Imagined Consequences of Maize Transgene Flow to Oaxaca, McAfee, Kathleen, Journal of Latin American Geography, vol. 2, No. 1, 2003, Published by: Conference of Geographers of Latin America.(Gonzalez) González, R.J. (2001). Corn has a soul. Zapotec Science: Agriculture and Food in the Northern Sierra of Oaxaca (pp. 103-117). Austin: University of Texas Press.(Mintz) Mintz, S. W. (1985). Sweetness and potency: sugar's place in modern history. New York, NY: Viking.(King Corn) Cheney, I. (Director). (2008). King Corn [documentary]. USA: Docurama Films:(Piperno) Piperno, D., & Ranere, A. (2009). Analysis of starch cereals. Piperno, 106(13). Retrieved March 1, 2014, from www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.0812525106