Brown rice, through the millennia, is the most consumed food in the world. Rice is eaten by over half of the world’s population. It has fed prisoners in camps during WW2 and could be found soaking overnight in wooden troughs. It has and still does sustained millions as the staple of their diet. It is sold by street vendors to hungry office workers on their way to work in the early mornings and for lunches in some of the largest cities in the world. Brown rice was used as currency, paying Chinese workers with this substance of universal value.
There are two main species, the rice that is grown in Asia; “Oryza Sativa,’ and the African; “Oryza Glaberrima.” The origin of rice is variously reported as having been first used in several places. One such reference places the origin of the first rice back 5,500 years to Thailand, where it is often absorption cooked, which allows the rice to take on the flavors the favors of foods cooked with it. In primitive cultures, the inedible outer husk is removed by pounding the whole grain in a bowl with a wooden spoon or such similar instrument.
Chinese have followed the rest of the world in their preference of white rice, abandoning the place that brown rice has taken their diet and economy through the millennia. The failure of a rice crop was devastating to the economy. Rice is considered to by a symbol of fertility, hence, the throwing of rice at a wedding ceremony. Brown rice contains 4g protein, and 55mg magnesium, per 50g serving. It also has 1gm fat and dietary fiber plus trace amounts of other minerals. Rice is sodium free.
