I'm beginning to think that there's a reason why the Japanese and Chinese traditionally eat white rice--because brown rice is really difficult to digest. Granted, the white rice they traditionally eat is a lot more nutritious than than white rice here because of the way it's processed (it's sort of fermented in the field before processing, and may also be parboiled as well). Anyone else wonder about this?
is brown rice really a traditional food?
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Yip I have thought about this too. I dont really have an answer for you, but Im interested in seeing the replys.
Personally I dont have any trouble with brown rice, once its been soaked, and like you said, the white rice we have in the west is not a very good substitute.
Personally I dont have any trouble with brown rice, once its been soaked, and like you said, the white rice we have in the west is not a very good substitute.
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When we were in Thailand last year there was a factory outside of my husband's village dedicated to "shelling" rice
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: However, at least for Thai sweet/sticky rice, they soak before they steam it. The jasmine rice they make in a rice cooker just like we do here in the states, so it doesn't seem that nutritious...
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I don't find brown rice hard to digest at all. As long as it's soaked, that is.
I DO find white rice to be very hard on my system - all that starch with no fibre doesn't do me any favours at all. I have to eat a LOT of veggies with white rice or I feel gross. I love sushi, but I always get "sushi bloat" because of the rice.
It's entirely possible that there's a happy medium - hand-polished rice, that isn't quite so "white"? But that's not available here, and for me, even if I can't digest half of the bran and hull or whatever's on rice, the extra fibre does me enough good that I'll take it.
I DO find white rice to be very hard on my system - all that starch with no fibre doesn't do me any favours at all. I have to eat a LOT of veggies with white rice or I feel gross. I love sushi, but I always get "sushi bloat" because of the rice.
It's entirely possible that there's a happy medium - hand-polished rice, that isn't quite so "white"? But that's not available here, and for me, even if I can't digest half of the bran and hull or whatever's on rice, the extra fibre does me enough good that I'll take it.
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Good question. I have a few good reference books at home, I'll try to remember to research this tonight. I have a vague recollection that white rice was formerly food for rich people, because it required so much labour-intensive processing in pre-industrial times (much like white flour in europe). I think there was something about this in Reay Tannahill's "Food in History". It'll give me an excuse to read it again
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Originally Posted by Ruthla  Are we 100% sure that white rice is "traditional" in Asian societies? Or is it just what they've been eating for the past 100 years or so since they got food processing technology? Does anybody know? |
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That's my question, too. Hope someone can answer it.
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Originally Posted by Ruthla Are we 100% sure that white rice is "traditional" in Asian societies? Or is it just what they've been eating for the past 100 years or so since they got food processing technology? Does anybody know? |
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Speaking of rice, how do short grain brown rice and long grain brown rice compare? We always buy brown, but we like the short grain better. Is it processed or just a different variety? They're both organic!
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I've been wondering this too. Being Indian, I grew up on white Basmati rice. But we also always had chapati, dahl, and veggies with every meal too. I guess that helps with the way it digests.
Whenever we visit relatives in India we always eat white basmati.
However, I am from North India. My in-laws are from South India and they only eat parboiled short grain white rice.
In both cases its white rice though. I'd be interested to find out more about this topic.
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Whenever we visit relatives in India we always eat white basmati.
However, I am from North India. My in-laws are from South India and they only eat parboiled short grain white rice.
In both cases its white rice though. I'd be interested to find out more about this topic.
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According to my Japanese mother, brown rice is something they eat only when there's nothing else (like what happened in WWII), and they don't like to at all. Even my great-grandmother, who lived to be 102, ate white rice. Most can get away with it because the rest of the diet is so nutrient-rich.
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Yeah, I wonder about that, too. I like brown basmati better than white rice, but I do love sushi.
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They're different varieties. And they cook differently, too.
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I'm sure white rice has been used for a long time. But what about 150 or 200 yrs. ago? Or, well, before modern methods made it easy and cheap to process the rice (not quite sure when that happened
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)? Does your family know anything about that, by any chance
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I wonder about what they Asians ate early on in history, and how long they've had a method for processing the rice, and how long they've used that method for the general population. But, I don't have the time to research every topic I wonder about, so
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Originally Posted by callmemama Speaking of rice, how do short grain brown rice and long grain brown rice compare? We always buy brown, but we like the short grain better. Is it processed or just a different variety? They're both organic!
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Originally Posted by Chicharronita According to my Japanese mother, brown rice is something they eat only when there's nothing else (like what happened in WWII), and they don't like to at all. Even my great-grandmother, who lived to be 102, ate white rice. Most can get away with it because the rest of the diet is so nutrient-rich. |
I wonder about what they Asians ate early on in history, and how long they've had a method for processing the rice, and how long they've used that method for the general population. But, I don't have the time to research every topic I wonder about, so
There is some debate over the whole brown rice v/s white rice thing here http://www.westonaprice.org/letters/L2001wi.html
Interesting, but still no definative answer.
ETA: This is also an interesting article
http://www.boloji.com/wfs5/wfs541.htm
Interesting, but still no definative answer.
ETA: This is also an interesting article
http://www.boloji.com/wfs5/wfs541.htm
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Hmmm...well according to this link it sounds like the traditional processing removes the bran, whereas brown rice still contains the bran. Although the article mentions that the women who milled the rice took the bran home with them...I wonder what they did with it?
ETA: According to the first link, the bran was traditionally fed to animals.
Originally Posted by tbone ETA: This is also an interesting article http://www.boloji.com/wfs5/wfs541.htm |
ETA: According to the first link, the bran was traditionally fed to animals.
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Rice bran is also traditionally used as a lactofermentation medium.
Okay, according to Reay Tannahill in "Food in History" rice was not polished for the masses until the late 1800s, at which point:
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That research team and subsequent investigations actually led to the discovery of vitamins.
Following this is a discussion of how, prior to military conscription in 1917 in Britain, 41% of eligible men theoretically in their physical prime were found to be in such poor health that they were unfit for service. The cause was found to be malnourishment, although none were lacking in food bulk. (This is a fascinating book, btw. I highly recommend it - I think everyone on the TF forum would really like it. )
From The Cambridge World History of Food:
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The article, which is lengthy and frankly not exactly exciting, goes on to place rice use starting as early as 6570 BC with cultivation starting sometime around 2500 BC in India and China. However, the author of this article states that:
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He also mentions that parboiling the rough rice before milling it, which allows vitamins and minerals to spread into the endosperm. This is apparently a popular method of staving off beri-beri among low-income people in many south Asian countries.
So, nothing super-conclusive there. If I had to bet, I'd say that rice generally is a traditional food, and that traditionally it was probably eaten either parboiled and milled or milled raw as much as possible with a mortar and pestle, in which case a good portion of the bran would probably still be intact. The industrially polished rice we eat today would NOT be a traditional food, but it's possible that neither is unmilled brown rice.
I guess our challenge is to figure out how to parboil and mill rice then! I have no clue how this would work. Anyone?
Okay, according to Reay Tannahill in "Food in History" rice was not polished for the masses until the late 1800s, at which point:
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| People who lived on a diet based largely on the new polished rice began to contract beri-beri, a deficiency disease... So concerned did the Dutch become over the death rate in their colonies in the East Indies that in 1886 they sent out a medical team to investigate. |
Following this is a discussion of how, prior to military conscription in 1917 in Britain, 41% of eligible men theoretically in their physical prime were found to be in such poor health that they were unfit for service. The cause was found to be malnourishment, although none were lacking in food bulk. (This is a fascinating book, btw. I highly recommend it - I think everyone on the TF forum would really like it. )
From The Cambridge World History of Food:
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| Although rice has a relativley low protein content... brown rice (caryopsis) ranks higher than wheat in available carbohydrates, digestible energy (kilojoules per 100 grams) and net proetein utilization. Rice protein is superior in lysine content to wheat, corn, and sorghum... |
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| Rice consumers, however, generally prefer to eat milled rice...the pestle and mortar were doubtless the earliest implements used to mill rice grains. |
So, nothing super-conclusive there. If I had to bet, I'd say that rice generally is a traditional food, and that traditionally it was probably eaten either parboiled and milled or milled raw as much as possible with a mortar and pestle, in which case a good portion of the bran would probably still be intact. The industrially polished rice we eat today would NOT be a traditional food, but it's possible that neither is unmilled brown rice.
I guess our challenge is to figure out how to parboil and mill rice then! I have no clue how this would work. Anyone?
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well, wouldn't it work to parboil, allow the rice to continue for a soaking period in the water it was parboiled in, and then cook it?
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You'd think so. And probably if you let it get to a mild fermenting stage in the soaking bit it'd be even more nutritious.
Originally Posted by desertpenguin well, wouldn't it work to parboil, allow the rice to continue for a soaking period in the water it was parboiled in, and then cook it? |
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You mean without any extra milling? I don't see what the point would be--the purpose of parboiling is to impart the nutrients from whole brown rice into the white part (can't remember what it's called) before the bran and whatever else is removed. You might as well just soak and cook the whole brown rice.
Originally Posted by desertpenguin well, wouldn't it work to parboil, allow the rice to continue for a soaking period in the water it was parboiled in, and then cook it? |
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Apparently some Asian or Indian markets sell parboiled rice. Unfortunately the one here doesn't
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Uncle's Ben's rice (converted rice) is actually parboiled but then they add synthetic B vitamins as well.
Originally Posted by spughy I guess our challenge is to figure out how to parboil and mill rice then! I have no clue how this would work. Anyone? |
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