A ubiquitous item at many roadside harvest stands is flint corn, known as calico or indian corn. Flint corn is different from other varieties of corn in ways other than color. The water content is much lower with a higher starch content. Yes, it's edible. Often ground and used for hominy, but I'm not a fan so I cannot attest to this. This multi-colored corn has been grown for centuries although the ears we see for sale are the results of the past 50 years of hybridization. 

This diversity of color remind me of my neighbors. We live at the end of a mile long road with twelve houses clustered at the last half. And living in those twelve houses are people from all over the world. A couple from Laos who have an incredible love story, a family from China that are conservative Christians, a multi-generational family from Honduras who are amazing brick masons, an older couple from Vietnam who came to the US after the war because he helped the CIA, a younger couple from Vietnam who own a number of nail salons, three Kurdish families who have become quite prosperous, and even a veterinarian from Memphis who lives with her parents. I need the Google translator sometimes to communicate with my neighbors. I am learning about Islam and Buddhism and eating food that was not familiar in my childhood. The new house being built next-door for a large Kurdish family has had lots of hard-working Mexican men construct it. They listen to happy music with lyrics I don't understand. 

More than 1/8 of the population of Nashville is foreign born. Outside the tourist areas, Nashville looks a lot like America. And calico corn.