I love corn on the cob. It is one of my favourite summer foods. Along with those amazing summer tomatoes (that first meh tomato of fall is always a bit depressing), and strawberries that aren’t white inside.

A recent (and delicious) meal at a friend’s cottage made me think that many of us may not really know what corn really is.

Skill testing question:

Corn is:

a) a vegetable
b) a grain
c) meat
d) dessert

If you answered a), you are….not right.

Corn is in fact a grain, not a vegetable, yet somehow we tend to eat it alongside potatoes and meat. Don’t get me wrong – it’s delicious that way. But that is basically like having rice and potatoes on the same plate. Or pasta and bread (why do some restaurants serve bread as a side for pasta?). In fact we should be eating corn instead of potatoes and alongside a delicious serving of vegetables.

Anyone else make this mistake? If so, next time think corn plus veggies, not corn instead of veggies.

Here’s hoping the corn will continue to be delicious for a while because I have not had my fill yet this summer!

Elsbeth Vaino, B.Sc, is a personal trainer in Ottawa, Canada who likes her corn with butter and salt. And a salad.