In class this week we harvest rice, more or less. Rice is the second most-produced grain on the planet after maize/corn and is the staple food of roughly half of globe’s population that of Vietnam. In class we pretend that our children are grains of rice and take them through the steps of production, from the field to the table. As we learn, unmilled rice is known as “paddy” and is best harvested when the grains are moist. After harvesting, which farmers mainly do by hand, comes threshing, which ideally takes place within a day or two after the harvest, and then the paddy has to go to a mill (or sit in the sun by the side of a road) where it must dry quickly to avoid becoming moldy. When the rice is dry, hullers remove the outer husk–another process that is often still done by hand. The hulling process can yield brown rice — the huller only removes the outermost husk, leaving most of the nutritional value intact — or white rice: further “polishing” removes the bran and the germ (and most of the vitamins). In class, after we harvest, we eat! (Or, just as we imagined the harvest, we pretend.)
Tag Archives | Rice
A Day in the life of a rice farmer
Meet me in the Mekong Delta for a day in the life of a rice farmer.
Rice is by far the most important crop in Vietnam, both in terms of production — Vietnam is the world’s second largest rice exporter, after Thailand — and consumption — Vietnam is the world’s seventh-largest consumer. Vietnam’s national economy rises and falls with the undulating price of rice; in the Mekong Delta, for example, which is known as “Vietnam’s Rice Bowl,” about 80% of the population is engaged in rice production. (We see the rice-harvesting magic happen in this video.) Beyond its economic benefits, rice provides Vietnamese with an estimated 80% of their daily intake of carbohydrates and 40% of their protein. Very literally, Vietnam can’t live without rice.
