Post by Isaac Ho on Jan 19, 2012 22:03:59 GMT -5
THE IMPORTANCE OF RICE IN ASIAN CULTURE
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by Isaac Ho, the Admin
Rice culture and the art of paddy cultivation in Asia has given rise to many notable cultures and religions in the entire region.
Planting rice in the fields is an Asian agricultural art which is refined to high sophistication for centuries.
Planting rice in the fields begins during the dry season when the rice sprouts are transplanted from nurseries to the fields which have laid furlough until they are prepared by mainly the wooden plough drawn by the black oxen.
Then when the seasonal rain comes, the rice plants began to grow jade-green until about several months later each plant is bent heavily laden with the grain and ready for harvest.
Then the villagers work together in a cooperative manner to cut their rice harvest and dehusk and winnow, thus separating the rice grain from the chaff.
The rice grains would be dried in the autumn sun and then transported in sacks and placed upon wooden carts drawn by the classic buffaloes and cows to the rice mill where the rice grains are polished till these become snow white and ready for consumption.
Hence, rice culture and rice-eating are thousands of years old throughout Asia and still continue to play a stabilizing role to this day all over the region, particularly in monsoon lands of Southeast Asia.
Today, some Indonesian politicians have urged their fellow citizens to eat less rice and instead use substitutes like cassava roots, yams and sweet potatoes are political unrealistic and don't win brownie points for them when the next national election comes.
Indonesia politicians while suggesting that the poor class of their rural cousins to refrain from eating more rice than the country can produce would be well advised to stop such practice while they themselves consume steamed white rice three times a day in the privacy of their homes...!
Revolutions and uprisings had occured in the past because the poor villagers become pennyless and unable to procure rice for their starving families.
Since Indonesia is prosperous, politicians there should contemplate devising policies to encourage more farmers to increase their rice acerage and choose to plant rice species which reproduce more per ton.
Alternatively, these leaders should plan to use the country's monetary reserves to import more rice from the rice baskets of Asia; in rice-producing countries like Burma, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia which have surpluses of rice to sell to other lands in South East Asia.
To suggest to the poor Indonesians which cook and consume rice at breakfast, noon and dinner would not be taken seriously by them because rice is their staple diet in their meals to provide them with enough energy to work and earn a decent living.
As an Asian myself, even though I make my home permanently in Canada, I cannot refrain from eating rice at least once a day as it is my cultural habit, and even though I can choose other substitutes. Rice is both a cultural and civilizational custom for all Asians and they are proud of this culinary habit which is excellent to none!
www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/southeastasia/view/1177841/1/.html
**************************************
by Isaac Ho, the Admin
Rice culture and the art of paddy cultivation in Asia has given rise to many notable cultures and religions in the entire region.
Planting rice in the fields is an Asian agricultural art which is refined to high sophistication for centuries.
Planting rice in the fields begins during the dry season when the rice sprouts are transplanted from nurseries to the fields which have laid furlough until they are prepared by mainly the wooden plough drawn by the black oxen.
Then when the seasonal rain comes, the rice plants began to grow jade-green until about several months later each plant is bent heavily laden with the grain and ready for harvest.
Then the villagers work together in a cooperative manner to cut their rice harvest and dehusk and winnow, thus separating the rice grain from the chaff.
The rice grains would be dried in the autumn sun and then transported in sacks and placed upon wooden carts drawn by the classic buffaloes and cows to the rice mill where the rice grains are polished till these become snow white and ready for consumption.
Hence, rice culture and rice-eating are thousands of years old throughout Asia and still continue to play a stabilizing role to this day all over the region, particularly in monsoon lands of Southeast Asia.
Today, some Indonesian politicians have urged their fellow citizens to eat less rice and instead use substitutes like cassava roots, yams and sweet potatoes are political unrealistic and don't win brownie points for them when the next national election comes.
Indonesia politicians while suggesting that the poor class of their rural cousins to refrain from eating more rice than the country can produce would be well advised to stop such practice while they themselves consume steamed white rice three times a day in the privacy of their homes...!
Revolutions and uprisings had occured in the past because the poor villagers become pennyless and unable to procure rice for their starving families.
Since Indonesia is prosperous, politicians there should contemplate devising policies to encourage more farmers to increase their rice acerage and choose to plant rice species which reproduce more per ton.
Alternatively, these leaders should plan to use the country's monetary reserves to import more rice from the rice baskets of Asia; in rice-producing countries like Burma, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia which have surpluses of rice to sell to other lands in South East Asia.
To suggest to the poor Indonesians which cook and consume rice at breakfast, noon and dinner would not be taken seriously by them because rice is their staple diet in their meals to provide them with enough energy to work and earn a decent living.
As an Asian myself, even though I make my home permanently in Canada, I cannot refrain from eating rice at least once a day as it is my cultural habit, and even though I can choose other substitutes. Rice is both a cultural and civilizational custom for all Asians and they are proud of this culinary habit which is excellent to none!
www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/southeastasia/view/1177841/1/.html