I've always thought it didn't taste bad but sweet corn is better. Guess you can get malnourished trying to live off it, humans don't digest it well.
Eating cow corn is what the song Jimmy Cracked the Corn is all about. What the slaves were saying is gimme cracked corn and I don't care, the master's gone away.
In other words eating something as vile as cow corn is ok as long as you're a free man.