Rice

I am 70 years old. When I was growing up on the west coast of the United States in the 1950’s and 1960’s there was only one kind of rice and it was called, strangely enough, RICE.

If you were served rice, if you cooked with rice, if you bought rice in a store you bought RICE.

There was no qualifications or differentations between various types of rice it was just RICE.

How times have changed. The American pallete has been exposed to long grain, medium grain, short grain, starchy, glutenous, and other types of rice.

Honestly, the rice I grew up with, basic long grain rice, seldom graces my table. Not because it is bad. Not at all. Simply put; given the variety of types of rice available, I usually opt for something with a little more appeal. Even when I want a non-starchy long grain rice I am often inclined to go for either a basmati or, if I want a floral note, I go for jasmine rice. Oh, I still use good old long grain rice as a blank pallette when it is in a supporting role, but rice is certainly not just RICE anymore.