Good morning, welcome to our series sharing Food Holidays: September 2022 National Rice Month. I don’t know about you but I love Rice and Chicken. I can’t wait to celebrate National Rice Month. As a child I used to make Cheese and Rice for one of my friends for lunch. I haven’t had this since I was a child. I think I will make it this week and see if David and Charlie like it. Or Chili, Rice and Wienies. Would you like to come for dinner?
National Rice Month
National Rice Awareness Month is celebrated every year in November in the Philippines. National Rice Awareness Month raises awareness about the importance of healthier forms of Rice that are locally produced such as Pigmented or Brown Rice. During this month, people are encouraged to consume healthier Rice, which is produced by Filipino farmers. People are urged to prioritize Rice produced by Filipino farmers as it is less exposed to pesticides than imported Rice. Celebrations during this month generally include holding or attending Rice exhibits, playing Rice trivia games, and promoting healthy varieties of Rice.
HISTORY OF NATIONAL RICE AWARENESS MONTH
Rice is a staple food source for more than half of the world’s population. Rice was believed to be first domesticated in the Yangtze River basin in China. A 2011 genetic study shows that forms of Asian Rice, both Indica, and Japonica, came from a single domestication event that occurred between 13,500 to 8,200 years ago in China from the Wild Rice Oryza Rufipogon. A more recent study suggests that Japonica was domesticated first and Indica Rice was domesticated when Japonica arrived in India about 4,500 years ago.
Evidence that suggests that Rice consumption has been around in India since 6000 B.C. has been found at Lahuradewa in Uttar Pradesh. However, there is still a debate whether the samples found at Lahuradewa were domesticated or not. Rice cultivation in India started in 5000 B.C. Proof of Rice cultivation has been found in the Indus Valley civilization from the third millennium B.C. and in Kashmir and Harappan regions from the second millennium B.C.
Japonica Rice cultivation started to spread to Southeast Asia with the advancement of the Austronesian Dapenkeng culture in Taiwan between 3500 and 2000 B.C. Dated 2800 B.C., the Nanguanli site in Taiwan has yielded numerous carbonized remains of both Rice and millet in waterlogged conditions, which indicates intensive Wetland Rice cultivation and dryland millet cultivation.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
