An international language

Rice is the grain of the East – sun and paddy fields create the environmental requirements. It needs little processing and preparation. There is no waste. There are infinite forms of the rice with which one can get inventive – grains, flour, roasted grains, rice paste, rice water.

Truth be told, I tired a little of the same musky pan of steamed basmati, day in, day out, growing up in an Indian home. I think this is what led me to travel the globe to see what others did by way of carb background noise. But I soon realized that – far from background noise – rice was often what was chosen as the stand-alone event.