A Rice Conversation

According to a Malaysian aboriginal myth, the sky was once made of rice, and it lay flat on the ground. At the first harvest, the tribe's women heaved the rice-sky upward with long wooden brooms, and from then on, rice fell back to Earth each year at harvest time.

Every year the average American consumes 25 pounds of rice, and Asian Americans eat close to 300 pounds. Rice is a staple food for more than two-thirds of the world's population. A Rice Conversation cleverly integrates the history of rice with fun rice facts and everyday uses including healthy, wholesome rice-based recipes for salads and hot meals.

Some of the delicious recipes included in the book are: Greek Rice Salad, Post-Thanksgiving Turkey and Rice Soup, Coconut Rice Snow Pudding, and California Blonde Rice and Turkey Lettuce Wraps. A few of the fun rice facts from the book include:

• Many people believe white rice has been bleached, but really, it's produced by milling brown rice to remove the bran and germ.
• Rice starch is often added to laundry in the last rinse cycle to help stiffen linens such as tablecloths and napkins.
• Rice isn't just used to make alcohol--including beer, wine and sake--it's also used in cosmetics and toothpaste.
• Rice straw is used to make coarse writing paper and can be woven into sandals, hats and tatami carpets.
• In China, rice derivatives have been used for centuries as part of mortar to build bridges, temples and city walls.
• Toyota means "bountiful rice field."

Author Ken LaGrande is the president of Sun Valley Rice and founder of LaGrande Family Foods Group. Ken's family has been a staple in agriculture in the Sacramento Valley for more than 100 years.