Welcome to the Rice Age
it's time to embrace our favorite grain 🍚 lots of recipes included, obvs
I like dependable foods. My grocery list remains about 75% the same each week despite the fact that I’m always cooking up different meals. There are just some ingredients so damn versatile that I end up eating them constantly. I’ve already waxed poetic about my love of beans. I’m trying to usher in a beanaissance to this god forsaken world, but beans have a BFF that I’m also in a serious, multi decade affair with- rice. With food budgets getting razor thin all over North America, I think it’s time for everyone to get onboard with the greatest grain in the game. Welcome to The Rice Age.
I grew up with rice on the dinner table most nights. Sure, it might have been Minute Rice, but I didn’t know the difference. We weren’t a butter noodles house; we were a buttered rice house. When I got a little older, I started learning brown rice, basmati, and all the varieties that fill up the grocery aisles. When I cooked my first pot of jasmine rice on the stove, I felt like a god. I’ve never looked back. I snuck a little rice cooker into my dorm room to help stretch the handful of dollars I had to spend on food each week. Rice has been by my side ever since. There are few foods that give you such a return on your investment. I just bought a 25-pound bag of jasmine rice at the store for $15 dollars. Pasta could never.
It doesn’t matter the century you’re in or where in the world you go, somebody nearby is eating rice. Most of the world is eating rice right now. Hell, I’m eating rice as I write this. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates that over 50 percent of the world population depends on rice for about 80 percent of its food requirements. Name another food that holds us down like that. Those are MVP numbers. Rice didn’t get to this position of power and influence overnight. We’ve been working together for a long time.
There are two species of domesticated rice, Oryza sativa (Asian) and Oryza glaberrima (African), grown globally. Don’t freak out over the Latin names. This is going somewhere, I swear. Oryza sativa covers most of the rice you are familiar with, from bomba and basmati. O. glaberrima can be harder to find in the US but if you’ve ever had Carolina Gold, you’ve had o. glaberrima. These species were domesticated separately because all humans, regardless of location, know a tasty looking grain when they see one. O. glaberrima is the new kid on the block with its domestication tracing back to around 4000 years ago in West Africa. O. sativa has been in the game a lot longer. The oldest archaeological evidence of rice use by humans has been dated to 13,000–14,000 years ago in the middle and lower Yangzi River Valley region of China. Whether that rice was domesticated or wild is still very much up for debate, but the point remains the same. We’ve been eating rice longer than we’ve been a part of civilization. Maybe that’s why people turn their noses up at rice; it’s dependability and affordability make it seem dull and ordinary. But without rice, we’re all fucked.
Climate collapse is affecting crops all over the world and rice is no exception. Rice needs lots of water and a specific climate to grow, all of which are being adversely impacted by our collapsing climate. But humans aren’t going to let rice go out like that. Scientists all over the world are developing new rice cultivars and new farming techniques to adapt our favorite crop to our ever-changing future. Here in the US, Dr. Benjamin Runkle, an engineering professor from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, had rice farmers let their fields dry out before adding more water then repeat this cycle over the duration of the growing season. After 7 years, he found that not only did this system significantly reduce the amount of water needed to grow rice, it reduced the farm’s methane emissions by 60%, and didn’t affect yields at all. Hell yes. At the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI), scientists are working on new varieties of rice that can survive being submerged by floodwaters for several days, can grow in salty water and soil, and require much less fertilizer than your typical rice. This work will help feed the world in the not-too-distant future. The director of BRRI Dr. Mohamed Iftekharuddaula, puts it like this: “Rice security is synonymous with food security.” The future of humanity literally depends on rice. Please show it some respect.
I can hear the carb-phobic among us clutching their pearls over all this rice talk but despite the rumors, rice isn’t full of empty calories. Rice, particularly brown rice, is an excellent source of fiber, manganese, selenium, magnesium, and a whole host of B vitamins. We’ve been eating it forever so maybe take that into perspective. Worried about calories? Well a group of scientists out of Sri Lanka found a way to reduce the amount of calories we absorb from rice by 60% by converting some of its starch from digestible to indigestible. You don’t need any lab equipment to follow their process. Just cook your rice with some coconut oil and then refrigerate it overnight and boom, you’ve got lower calorie rice. Again, pasta could never.
Want to get more rice in your life? I’m here to help. I like dessert rice, entrée rice, flavored side dish rice, rice noodles, and any other kind of rice you could dream up. One of my few kitchen gadgets is a 10 cup Zojirushi rice cooker that I’ve had for years and love deeply, but you don’t need that unless you are really deep into Rice Life™️ All you need is a good pot with a lid, some rice, and a dream of eating well without going broke. Add some beans, soup, veggies, or a little tofu to that rice and you’ve got my favorite kind of dinner.
So much about our future feels stressful and uncertain right now so focusing on the basics and what we can control is the only way to stay sane. Dinner doesn’t need to be one more thing causing you anxiety. Go stock up on the world’s favorite grain, whether you’re buying from your local bulk bin or grabbing giant bags like me. Below are some of my favorite rice recipes (there are also lots of links above) from over the years. I know you’ll love them as much as I do.
Rice will take care of you like it always has, plus you’ll save some money along the way. Embrace The Rice Age.
Need more help and a few more recipes? Check out my January Meal Manager for two weeks of recipes, shopping lists, and a calendar for your cooking schedule. 30% of proceeds will be given to the LA Regional Food Bank for their amazing work in this time of need in Los Angeles, please consider purchasing.
Tomorrow paid subscribers get a recipe for my favorite Coconut Lime Simmer Sauce which goes great with…rice. Yes, it always comes back to rice.
This is awesome! It reminds me of your old food history segments. Also if you are like me and don't have a rice cooker here's a quick tip from RainbowPlantLife. Once your rice has absorbed all the liquid and stops hissing take it off the heat and place a towel over the top then put the lid on top and let it sit for 10 mins. Kinda steams the rice perfectly and it's delicious.
Rice, butter, salt, pepper. The simplest of meals and so satisfying. Thank you for this great information!