Rice

Personally, I’ve been to just one too many buffet parties which offered, among other dire things, a bowl of Uncle Ben’s Rice studded with erstwhile frozen mixed veg. Rice salad, in the wrong context, makes me decidedly twitchy. Which is why I have dedicated a whole chapter to the stuff. This is also in part due to my Iranian connection (AKA husband). For many Iranians, a meal is not actually a meal without rice, and anything devoid is but a snack, so if you are going to try and fob them off with salad as a main course, you’ll need to include rice. As with grains, rice is filling, and so the contents of this chapter make for great workday lunches. And they can for the most part be prepared the night before.