We Should All Be Like Corn Kid
Sometimes all it takes is a deep appreciation for corn to take you to the top.
Who would've guessed that a love of one food could lead to massive fame? Well, there's a kid out there who proves that if your love for food is pure and true, some pretty amazing things can happen. One kid's love of corn has taken him all the way to a Hollywood premiere, and we're loving every second of this corntastic journey.
Who is Corn Kid?
A video posted by the YouTube channel Recess Therapy about a month ago recently resurfaced and went viral on TikTok. The video features a wholesome interview with a young boy who absolutely loves corn. There's really no other way to describe it other than pure, unconditional love for golden nuggets on a cob.
Corn Kid's actual name is Tariq and he's 7 years old, but much else hasn't been shared about his background. Not much else needs to be said, though. The kid loves corn and just wants everyone to know it. In the video he says in reference to his beloved corn, "I can't imagine a more beautiful thing." This is the type of phrasing you find in a sonnet or a romantic novel set in the renaissance, but instead these words are coming from a child munching down on an ear of corn. This gives me hope.
Even more endearing is the fact that when asked if everyone should eat corn, this corn-loving child's diplomatic response was, "Not everyone has to like it to be the best, everyone just has to try it. Have a bite!" If I didn't already love corn, that response alone would make me want to give it a try.
Corn Kid’s rise to celebrity
Although the original video was posted to YouTube a month ago, what made Tariq's corn interview take off was a remix of the video set to music done by The Gregory Brothers, the same people who made a viral TikTok using a scene from Stranger Things and first went viral in 2010 with "BED INTRUDER SONG!!!" After that, corn kid became a national treasure pretty quickly.
On September 3, South Dakota officially named Tariq the state's corn-bassador, reports NPR. The state's governor, Kristi Noem, that day (Sept. 3, 2022), Official Corn-bassador Tariq Day. The Corn Kid and his family traveled from New York to South Dakota to attend an official ceremony giving him this honor and to check out the state's Corn Palace. Yes, the palace is real and it's an entire structure made from different types of corn. Unsurprisingly, corn kid was thrilled to see it.
A recent tweet from The Hollywood Reporter also shows the corn celebrity on the red carpet at the premiere of Disney's new live-action Pinocchio movie. In addition to Hollywood premieres, the Corn Kid has also apparently landed brand deals—Chipotle recently posted an Instagram video featuring the 7-year-old and promoting their own corn.
What can we learn from the Corn Kid's current stint in the spotlight? I think it's a reminder to enjoy the simple things in life, even more specifically, the simplest foods. With food, there are never ending combinations and ways to "elevate" or complicate a dish. And those tweaks can be delicious in their own right, but sometimes just an ear of corn with a few notches of butter spread across is all you need to be happy. I mean, "it's corn!"