I saw this article recently on making rice. tl;dr? Well, it just points out that billions of people depend on rice as a staple and then gives you some “common mistakes” about cooking rice.
What I find interesting about this article is that it implies that even though billions of people eat rice in their diet, no one knows how to cook it properly. What? How does that make sense? No one knows how to cook rice properly? Even though billions of people eat it everyday? I find this hard to believe.
What I think they mean to say is that the average USian family doesn’t know how to cook rice. Think about it. Have you ever gone to an Asian (including Southeast Asian)/Middle Eastern/Indian (which is technically also Asian) restaurant and thought they didn’t know how to cook rice? Have you ever been invited to an Asian/Middle Eastern/Indian family dinner and worried that they didn’t know how to cook rice? No. Because they all know how to cook rice. Because it’s a staple in their diet. They would have developed all the proper techniques and tricks already to cook rice to their liking.
Also, many Asian families own a rice cooker, since rice is so important in their diet. They have a machine dedicated to cooking rice (not that the modern ones can’t do other things, but mostly it’s used to just cook rice). Don’t you think they know how to cook rice? I think they know how to cook rice. Billions of people around the world know how to cook rice.
Now, USian families, for the most part, don’t count on rice as a staple. The base of their meal tends to be a wheat product. Thus, it makes sense that some families don’t know how to cook rice. They just don’t eat it much. And then think about all the “instant” rice stuff that’s out there. No wonder they’re at a loss when it comes to actually cooking rice. And that’s ok. It’s not a crime against humanity. They can use whatever tips were offered in the article.
But maybe the writers should have mentioned this. Maybe they shouldn’t have implied that the whole world doesn’t know how to cook rice. Or maybe they shouldn’t have implied the US is the only country that matters in the whole world. Whatever the case, I found it rather annoying.
And by the way, not everyone eats their rice “fluffy.” Short grain rice doesn’t fluff.
Related post on Friday.
Random moosages as I see fit. 
2 Comments
I am a fairly decent cook. And though rice was never really a staple growing up, we had it enough. However…and I don’t know why this is, I can’t cook rice. Not in the add rice and water and leave until done way anyway. I always get that wrong and have to be very watchful and sometimes have to add boiling water because it wasn’t enough at the beginning…a rice cooker still kind of intimidates me. Especially trying is getting instructions from Asians who tell you things about sticking fingers to use for measuring or something about the water level and your knuckles…very confusing. Needless to say, if I need rice for a meal…I delegate. ;) hehehe
Most rice cookers have indentations on the side of the pot so you know how much water to put in for the amount of rice you have. Rice cookers are pretty easy to use. Unless you get a sucky one. In which case, too bad for you.