Sticky or glutinous rice

A bit of science but a pretty tale, I think. Geneticists say that a thousand years ago, somewhere deep in South East Asia, a lowly farmer stumbled upon a freak rice plant with a grain that was stickier than normal. This adventurous soul boiled it up and found enlightenment in this single genetic mutation. Sticky rice is now the staple food in many areas in South East Asia, China and Japan.

Normal rice has two starches: amylose and amylopectin. Sticky rice lacks amylose and this makes it sticky. This has been traced back to a single evolutionary origin. How uniquely wonderful that this one plant, a deficient anomaly of nature, found a farming family that loved it enough to make it the standard bearer for rice across the globe.