The rise of culture and traditions often came down to food. Food was the main element of culture. It described how the people of this culture would live out their days. As the food source evolved, so did cultural practices. This cultural phenomenon is often linked to food which constitutes the main source of calories in this culture. For many crops, the primary crop providing calories and nutrients was corn. Corn has gone from a primary source of calories in the crop to a vital source of starch and sugars in the crop, particularly in American culture. Corn was an essential part of the culture and has been integrated into the culture since 7000 BC. Mesoamerican cultural peoples perfected modern corn with the goal of producing larger quantities of corn. Corn contained a higher amount of food than other world grains like wheat, rice or barley (Gonzalez). Due to its high production, corn has become the main source of livelihood for many families. They were made into tortillas as a staple of the family's livelihood. The majority of calories consumed by families of this era came from corn. Despite the years that have passed, many families still make a living from corn. However, the new version of corn eating is high fructose corn syrups and corn-fed meats (King Corn). Both cultural versions, current and past, view corn as an important part of the economy. Modern cultures still thrive on corn, but they don't revere it the way past cultures 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 took hold in the lands of Mesoamerica, ethnographic sources reveal evidence of a plethora of rituals p...... middle of article ......American Association for the advancement of science, Stable Article URL: http //www.jstor.org/stable/1713608(McAfee) Corn cultivation and dangerous DNA: real and imaginary consequences of the transgenic flow of corn in Oaxaca, McAfee, Kathleen, Journal of Latin American Geography, Vol. 2, no. 1, 2003, published by: Conference of Latin American Geographers. (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 power: the place of sugar in modern history. New York, NY: Viking. (King Corn) Cheney, I. (Director). (2008). Royal corn [Documentary]. United States: Docurama Films: (Piperno) Piperno, D. and Ranere, A. (2009). Analysis of starch grains. Piperno, 106(13). Retrieved March 1, 2014, from www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.0812525106