I was at first only going to do this series on rice heritage for May, Asian Pacific American month. But then Maria sent me her replies, and I’m beginning to see a pattern in the responses. So far, I’ve only got responses from women (sorry guys, I’ll get to you), but I’m noticing that while rice may have been a staple of our childhoods, its not so much anymore. Not only that, our rice consumption for many of us was strongly linked to our physical appearance, an entirely different post, if you really want me to get into that.

Anyway, Maria’s up, and I snagged this smoking hot picture of her at a Grammy’s after party from Franklin Avenue. Mike, you’re a lucky man!

While you were growing up, what were you taught about rice?
Growing up, the memory that stands out the most about rice was my Mom chastising me to eat “less rice” (her phrase) during meals. She was concerned with my weight and wanted to instill the idea of the low-carb diet in me even back then. I mostly ignored her and ate my beloved rice anyway. To this day, my older brother Jim would tease me blurting out “less rice” at the dinner table.

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Joz, of blogging.la and 8asians fame, was kind enough to answer my oh-so-penetrating questions about how rice fits into her life. Don’t remember why I’m obsessing over rice? Remind yourself here.

While you were growing up, what were you taught about rice?
My Mom was concerned about my weight while I was growing up so she actually encouraged me NOT to eat too much rice. Instead of a full bowl like everyone else did, I always got half a bowl of rice.

Were you taught to cook rice? How?
As long as I can remember, we always had a rice cooker. When I left for college, I had to learn how to cook rice on the stove in a small pot because our kitchen was so small, I didn’t have room for a rice cooker.

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I think just about everyone who is Asian has been closely watching the news from all over the world about rice shortages. It’s kind of everywhere there are Asians — San Francisco, The Philippines, Malaysia, Southern California, Seattle. Last week, stories were being traded about people hoarding rice from area Costcos (especially in Alhambra, where there is a large surrounding Asian community) and limits being put on large bags of rice.

So it occurred to me — what are the new rice habits of young Asian Americans like myself? Certainly, they have changed since childhood, when rice was a staple with every meal. And seeing as how its Asian Pacific American Heritage month, the timing is perfect to discuss rice memories.

So I’ll start.

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