Rice by today’s standards is not an exciting food, but it is in fact one of the most important natural resources that humans have ever depended upon. Different cultures of people for thousands of years, spanning from India to China to Japan have used rice as their staple crop. Today especially, rice continues to be a vital grain for modern day human beings. Through this early dependency, rice became domesticated, which arguably is one of the most impactful events on the development of human agriculture and civilization. Rice now is farmed in different ways, including traditional, conventional and organic. Rice has become common processed food in supermarkets and one can easily find different foods that contain rice or its byproducts; through the increase in processing foods, rice has been transformed into an economic giant. With this higher demand for rice, scientists began to manipulate rice to become a higher yielding crop per acre, leading to the creation multiple hybrids of rice. This increase in hybridization led to what is now referred to as the Green Revolution. While rice is an incredibly important food nutritionally and economically, it has important non-food uses; current research has shown the possibility to use rice’s byproducts as an alternate source of fuel. With the present-day threat of global warming, this is an extremely important advance in green technology.
Rice began to influence humans thousands of years ago, with its range of two hundred thousand different varieties, the most of any grain crop. While the first culture to develop rice has been difficult to determine, the use of rice can be dated back to the Neolithic era, from 7150-4500 B.C.E. (Katz 194). The areas where rice may have originated from continue...
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...rce of energy for the future.
Works Cited
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Katz, Solomon H., and William W. Weaver. “Rice” Encyclopedia of Food and Culture. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2003. 190-205. Print.
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In the first chapter of the book the author discusses a brief world history and evolution of rice crops. It is interesting to see that even though parts of Africa had their own rice crop variety, the globalization of rice crop Oryza Sativa has been slowly replacing the African variety. The author also starts
rice which are left over from the season. When the food runs out and the
specimens with the corresponding scientific description, photographs, specific maps and there are drawings that document the research. This collected images of plants continue the artist’s fascination with documentation, community engagement and art as a way to address larger social issues. This exhibit was interning to me to see all the different plant and to know that plants in the city unknown to most there are often edible, medicinal or even poisonous plants.
The Crowning of Flora. 1816. Give Me Liberty!: An American History. Brief Third ed. Vol. One. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. 274. Print.
The lowlands, including a lot of of the Acadia French regions of Louisiana and also the surrounding and the, enclosed a varied diet heavily influenced by Africans and Caribbeans, instead of simply the French. As such, rice contend an oversized a part of the diet because it contend an oversized part of the diets of the Africans and Caribbean. Additionally, unlike the uplands, the lowlands subsistence of protein...
Rice was another cash crop that required a substantial investment in land, labor, and equipment. It was among the most intensive and extensive crops developed in colonial North America. Its cultivation helped shape the development of societies in South...
Domestication of plants and animals has long been indicated as a main causational factor for population increase and socio-political complexity. Evidence of domestication of plants in South America has been said of have initially occurred 8000 BC, evidence of squash in Ecuador (Pearsall 2008:107), and 500 years earlier lima beans and chili peppers are being exploited (Lynch 1983:125-6). However, it took several millennia for intensive manipulation of plants to become standard practice for subsistence. The Archaic transition occurred around 3000 BC was identifiable for its
In the essay " Rice for Thanksgiving " by Jocelyn Fong who is a full american, partial asian young girl is a young girl who admires her untraditional thanksgiving, and meaning. Fong loves thanksgiving, due to her Grand mothers special dish " Rice and Gravy " as said in the essay Her Grandmother always celebrated the American way, She even never got around to teaching Fong's father their native language. " I believe in rice and gravy, I am half Asian and completely American. " by Fong saying that, she completely accepts the mix she is by referring to the mix of food that is a tradition. You should celebrate holidays the way it makes you happy, with your very own culture regardless the fact if it is different.
When humans travel, they often brought their plants and animals with them. Early man brought their dogs with them, even to the Americas, while much later settlers also brought their cows, horses, and agricultural plants to the New World. However, things also traveled the other way, and potatoes and corn became widespread in the rest of the world after the Europeans brought it back from the Amer...
Throughout the history of the human race there have been a great number of crops that were discovered, planted, and over time domesticated. Wheat in the Middle East, rice in Asia, and rye in Eastern Europe are all some of today’s staple crops that feed millions every day. Crops like these make up over 50% of the world’s total food supply. However, the third most eaten crop in the world is maize, or corn, which provides 21% of human nutrition. Today maize feeds millions across the world, but its history is different from the others.
MacLennan R, Zhang A. “Cuisine: the concept and its health and nutrition implications-global.”Asia Pacific J Clin Nutr. 13.2(2004):131-135. Print.
I was born in one of the countries in Asia, and our staple food is rice. Rice is always at the center of the table, and the rest of the viand surrounds it. Here in the United States, my household still eat rice every day, accompanied by cooked vegetables and meat. My food choices are influenced by culture and family. Vegetables and fruits of my choice are abundant at the International Market and other Asian grocery stores. Vegetables are also available for a cheaper price at the farmers market. I myself buy these foods to ensure its freshness, prepare and cook them for my entire family. Inspired by Asian and American cuisine, our food is prepared with variety of cooking styles; such as dry like barbecues, baked and fried, with sauce
It is vital to recognize the value of a certain culture in the country through a common “tool” such as food. Located in Ohio, in Oberlin College’s newspaper, a number of students complained about the cultural appropriation on Asian food. Among many students, a Junior Japanese student, Tomoyo Joshi, criticizing the college’s serving of sushi, stated: “When you’re cooking a country’s dish for other people, including ones who have never tried the original dish before, you’re also representing the meaning of the dish as well as its culture” (Dunham & Friedersdorf). The unique taste and characteristic in a country’s dish reveals a meaning of its culture. Through common accessibilities like Japanese food, for instance, many people are able to understand and learn the Japanese culture. However, many misunderstand the Japanese culture due to the modification of Japanese food in the West. Without the same tasting, Westernization of Asian food corrupt originality in the culinary world. As a matter of fact, “the traditional cuisines of Japan is based on rice with miso soup and other dishes such as soba or udon or meat based products called tonkatsu… Japan has simmered many dishes such as fish products in broth called oden or beef in sukiyaki and nikujaga” (Wikipedia). In comparison to the original Japanese food sold in Japan, Japanese
More farmers are now planting crops for biofuel, resulting to an intense drop in food production. According to experts this promising alternative energy source is seemingly causing a global decrease of food supply. As the demand for biofuels increases, more industrialized countries are offering encouragements and subsidizing farmers to grow crops for fuel rather than for food. The biofuel production method was also anticipated to be carbon neutral, as the crops would absorb the carbon dioxide released when the biofuel was burned. However crops for fuel are now grown at such a rate that they need more energy to cultivate, grow and harvest. By the time it reaches households, it would have consumed more energy and released more greenhouse causing substances than the feared fossil fuels would have. The fact that emissions are released during production, processing, fertilizer application and as a result of land use change is highly ignored. Somehow biofuels can sidetrack less harmful and clean resources like renewable energies such as solar and wind energy. Large scale cultivation of biofuel crops, unlike small scale, locally produced and biofuel owned farms are commonly challenged by problems such as severe use of water, chemicals, fertilizers and pesticides. These also often lead to pollution, depleting and degrading available water resources which can cause famines. According to contrary believe of analysts, it has also shown that there is not enough farming land on earth to produce biofuel crops to meet the huge energy needs encouraged by our current and unmaintainable ways of living. http://www.greenerideal.com/science/0516-biofuels/ &
Rice was introduced into Japan between the Final Jomon and the Early Yayoi Period, some scholars suggest that it could have been as early as six-thousand years ago. There are various Japanese characters from each time period that represent the growing of rice. In order to grow rice in Japan, the steep land has to be terraced. This creates small areas high on mountainsides where various things are grown. In 2012, 1.55 million hectares were used to grow rice in Japan. However, this number is significantly smaller than it has been in previous years. In 2008, 4.68 million hectares of rice were being harvested. The average field for one farmer is very small and the production of the rice is highly mechanized. The steep decline in hectares of rice grown is because the number of Japanese farm households has declined dramatically in recent years. Some farmers in Japan even consider rice farming to be a part time job and not as important as other commodities. The decline is also from a change in the Staple Food Control Act in 1969. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries asked farmers to reduce their rice acreage because of the overproduction of rice. This was put into place to lower the rice amount and spend more focus on other agricultural products in order to compensate in other areas.