Got Rice?

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Every culture has its "staple" food. This is the food product that anchors each meal. For some cultures, it is meat and potatoes. However, for most of the world, regardless of region, rice is the staple that is served most often. . It is “A food staple of half the planet’s population” (Reynolds pg 1). But why rice? Why not bread or potatoes as is common in western countries? Within nutrisional basic food pyramid, rice is part of the breads, cereal, rice and pasta family. This family is the baseline foundation of human nutrition. Rice is a popular crop as it can be grown and cultivated fairly easily. Rice is grown by individual families for their personal needs, or can be cultivated by large farms for supply to the world. Rice is simpler to grow than wheat or potatoes because it does not have a long growing time and can grow in smaller areas and provides a greater yield per square acre than wheat or potatoes. Regardless of how you like your rice, it is basically prepared the same way, boiled. Once the rice is cooked, cultures take a different approach to the completion of a rice-based dish. Rice has a long history of being the perfect accompaniment for even the simplest of foods. Rice makes a dish hardy. It is a starch, so it adds bulk to a dish. My Grandmother was Japanese and she was the matriarch of our family. She cooked every meal with care and concern not only to appease our hunger, but she strived to create dishes that appealed to our palates and provided for our well being. She took care that each meal was balanced nutritionally and was delicious. In Japan, rice is revered as it has fed generations upon generations of people. It is the center of the Japanese diet. She would take the greatest care ... ... middle of paper ... ...h of rice and the traditions surrounding its growth and preparation go back thousands of years. Its flavor may not be easily expressed, but the satisfaction from the consumption of rice is easily described. Three quarters of the world cannot be wrong, rice is good. Works Cited Holloway, Ph.D., Joseph E. "African Crops and Slave Cuisine." Slavery in America. Web. 06 Apr. 2011. . McCulloch, Julie. Japan: A World Of Recipes. Chicago, ILL: Heinemann Library, 2001. Print. Pringle, Elizabeth W. Allston, and Charles W. Joyner. A Woman Rice Planter. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina in Cooperation with the Institute for Southern Studies and the South Caroliniana Society of the University of South Carolina, 1992. Print. Reynolds, Jan. Cycle of Rice, Cycle of Life. New York: Lee & Low, 2009. Print.

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