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History of Rice
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The origins of rice have been debated for some time, but the plant is of such antiquity that the precise time and place of its first development will perhaps never be known. It is certain, however, that the domestication of rice ranks as one of the most important developments in history, for this grain has fed more people over a longer period of time than has any other crop. There are many unproven mythological tales as to how rice came to be. Most believe the roots of rice came from 3000 BC India, where natives discovered the plant growing in the wild and began to experiment with it. Folklore tells us that when the Kachins of northern Myanmar (Burma) were sent forth from the center of the Earth, they were given the seeds of rice and were directed to a wondrous country where everything was perfect and where rice grew well. In Bali, it is believed that the Lord Vishnu caused the Earth to give birth to rice, and the God Indra taught the people how to raise it. Chinese myth, by contrast, tells of rice being a gift of animals rather than of gods. China had been visited by an especially severe period of floods. When the land had finally drained, people came down from the hills where they had taken refuge, only to discover that all the plants had been destroyed and there was little to eat. One day the people saw a dog coming across a field, and hanging on the dog’s tail were bunches of long, yellow seeds. The people planted these seeds, rice grew, and hunger disappeared. Throughout China today, tradition holds that, “the precious things are not pearls and jade but the five grains”, of which rice is first. According to Shinto belief, the Emperor of Japan is the living embodiment of Ninigo-no-mikoto, the god of the ripened rice plant. While most modern Japanese may intellectually dismiss this supernatural role, they cannot deny the enormous cultural importance of rice on life in their country – and so it is in much of the rice world. The first cultivators of rice in America did so by accident after a storm damaged ship docked in the Charleston South Carolina harbour. The captain of the ship handed over a small bag of rice to a local planter as a gift, and by 1726 Charleston was exporting more than 4000 tons of rice a year. Today, rice is grown and harvested on every continent except Antarctica, where conditions make its growth impossible. The majority of all rice produced (about 92% of the world’s total rice production) comes from India, China, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, Burma and Bangladesh. In the United States, farmers have been successfully harvesting rice for more than 300 years. There are thousands of strains of rice today, including those grown in the wild and those, which are cultivated as a crop. |
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Rice Facts
q Seventy-one percent of the rice consumed in Canada is exported from the U.S. q Rice is grown on every continent except Antarctica q Rice is grown in more than 89 countries around the world q Rice is high in complex carbohydrates, contains almost no fat, is cholesterol-free and is low in sodium. It is a good source of vitamins and minerals such as thiamin, niacin, iron, riboflavin, vitamin D, calcium and fibre. It is a fair source of protein, containing all eight amino acids. q Almost 90 percent of the world’s rice crop is consumed in Asia q About three billion people worldwide depend on rice for their survival. q White rice can be kept indefinitely in a cool, dry area. q Clothing, including shoes and hats, are made from rice straw in many rice-producing areas of the world.
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