I was pretty sure I would find an irony in Illinois’s naming sweet corn as its state vegetable:
Gov. Bruce Rauner signed legislation Thursday, making the designation official. State Sen. Sam McCann of Plainview introduced the legisilation after fourth-graders at Chatham Elementary School asked him about giving corn the honor. It had unanimous support.
Sweet corn now joins the list of other state symbols. That list includes popcorn as the official state snack food, violet as the official flower, cardinal as the official bird and square dancing as of the official state dance.
Rauner signed the measure before he was scheduled to visit the Chatham Sweet Corn Festival. The governor has yet to act on legislation that designates pumpkin pie as the official state pie.
Here’s the irony. Illinois doesn’t produce much sweet corn. It isn’t even among the top ten producers of sweet corn. The biggest producers of fresh sweet corn are Florida, California, and Georgia. Doesn’t seem to be mentioned in any of the stories. Illinois produces a lot of corn but it’s field corn—used for animal feed, in ethanol production, and making corn syrup.
The Chatham Sweetcorn Festival is also most likely shipping sweet corn from further South — even if they could serve local, it’s too early.
I’d have thought they’d choose a vegetable for the state vegetable but Reagan thought ketchup was one, so why not?
Fructose — Official Chemical of the State of Illinois.
Personally, I’d go for Ethanol. but I think Kentucky has a prior claim