Are GMO food products responsible for the degenerate state of the Republican party?

[KamaAina]

31. Hey there! Corn fungus is delicious!

Or so I have heard.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_smut

Corn smut is a plant disease caused by the pathogenic fungus Ustilago maydis that causes smut on maize and teosinte. The fungus forms galls on all above-ground parts of corn species, and is known in Mexico as the delicacy huitlacoche; it is eaten, usually as a filling, in quesadillas and other tortilla-based foods, and soups....

Smut feeds on the corn plant and decreases the yield. Smut-infected crops are often destroyed, although some farmers use them to prepare silage. The smut is a delicacy in Mexico, where it is known as huitlacoche, even being preserved and sold for a significantly higher price than uninfected corn. The consumption of corn smut originates from Aztec cuisine. For culinary use, the galls are harvested while still immature — fully mature galls are dry and almost entirely spore-filled. The immature galls, gathered two to three weeks after an ear of corn is infected, still retain moisture and, when cooked, have a flavor described as mushroom-like, sweet, savory, woody, and earthy. Flavor compounds include sotolon and vanillin, as well as the sugar glucose.

The fungus has had difficulty entering into the American and European diets as most farmers see it as blight, despite attempts by government and high profile chefs to introduce it. In the mid-1990s, due to demand created by high-end restaurants, Pennsylvania and Florida farms were allowed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to intentionally infect corn with huitlacoche. Most observers consider the program to have had little impact,[citation needed] although the initiative is still in progress. The cursory show of interest is significant because the USDA has spent a considerable amount of time and money trying to eradicate corn smut in the United States. Moreover, in 1989, the James Beard Foundation held a high-profile huitlacoche dinner, prepared by Josefina Howard, chef at Rosa Mexicano restaurant. This dinner tried to get Americans to eat more of it by renaming it the Mexican truffle and it is often compared to truffles in food articles describing its taste and texture.

I actually was going to try it a few years ago when Mom came out for a visit and we went to SF, but we never made it to the Mexican place I had in mind that serves it.