🚀 go-pugleaf

When I returned last May from a trip to California to visit my
daughter and latest grandchild, I brought 55 plastic bags each
containing one cup of California rice back to Japan and gave them to
people so they could have a taste of what has been the cause of so
much controversy lately. This is a report on what I found out. 

Getting the rice to Japan. When my daughter went on her weekly 
-------------------------  shopping trip to Lucky Supermarket in 
Whittier, CA, I tagged along and found there were three kinds of 
rice: First there was the usual "Uncle Ben's" long grain rice.
Second, there was some kind of rice for the many Hispanic people
who live in the area. Third there was Shirakiku, The labeling on
the front was in English where it said "Calrose Rice packed for
Nishimoto Trading Co. Ltd. Los Angeles and San Francisco. No talc
added." On the back it said "Shi-ra-ki-ku-ma-i" in Japanese printed
vertically.

I bought a 10 lb (9.07Kg) bag for $5.95 (plus tax), took it home, 
and compared to the rice I had brought with me from Japan. It 
looked pretty much the same and it tasted reasonably the same when 
cooked so I started putting 1 cup in each plastic bags. I found I
had to go back and buy another 10 lb bag of which I used maybe half.

When I came through customs at Osaka International, they asked if I
had any food and I said yes as it was pretty hard to conceal 55
plastic bags of rice (not to mention the 8 1-lb packages of Mexican
chocolate :-) I was asked to go to an agricultural inspection
counter where they attached a Plant Quarantine sticker for 10 kg
of go-me (rice) and that was it. No problems.

Comparing the rice. Of the 55 people I gave the rice to, one was 
------------------- English, one was American and the rest were 
Japanese. Both non-Japanese had been in Japan for over 10 years and 
I've know them for the 9 years I've been here. Of the Japanese, 
most of them I've know for at least a year and some for over 5 
years. Almost all of them attend the various English speaking 
groups I lead at the NHK Bunka Center in Osaka or the Bunka Kaikan
in Nagaokakyoshi where I live. This may sound like an unimportant
detail but when it comes to political issues like rice, I feel it's
relevant as far as getting hon-ne (true feelings) instead of just
ta-te-ma-e (politeness).

Most of the people thought the rice from California tasted more or 
less the same as what they had been used to eating in Japan. Two
people thought it had no taste. Nobody thought it tasted bad.

However long discussions arose starting with how sticky the rice
was and it turned out that people I spoke with cook rice quite
differently. Everybody washed the rice and then put it in rice
cooker, but soaking before cooking varied between 1/2 an hour and
12 hours. People felt the soaking time affected the stickiness.

One group said it was more like mo-chi-go-me (where the rice is
pounded into a solid paste) than u-ru-chi (rice for eating).  When
I told this to the other groups, most of the other people thought
this was a fair assessment.

The reaction of two groups was particularly interesting. In one,
there weren' enough bags to go around as many new people had showed
up as it was the start of a new course. So the people who had
received the rice pooled their resources and make o-ni-gi-ri (rice
balls) which they brought in the next week and served to everyone.
 
In the other, one person couldn't come for the first couple of 
weeks and came into the discussion when the others had already
tried the rice. The next week they brought in matched sets of
onigiri, one made from the California rice and one from Japanese
rice. Without being told everyone else guessed which was which: the
California rice was slightly larger, slightly whiter, and had
become more stuck together than the Japanese rice. When I tasted
them side by side, even I could tell that the Japanese rice had
more flavor than the California rice.

Rice and rice. But notice that I said "the" California rice. One
-------------- of the main points of the discussion was that
"California rice" and "Japanese rice" are an overgeneralization.

First comes the question of where the rice was grown: people felt
that Ko-shi-hi-ka-ri from Ni-i-ga-ta prefecture tasted different
than O-u-mi from Shi-ga, and these were different than
A-ki-ta-ko-ma-chi from A-ki-ta or Sa-sa-ni-shi-ki from Mi-ya-gi.

Next comes the question of the age of the rice. Was it shi-n-ma-i
(new rice), ko-ma-i (old rice), or ko-ko-ma-i (old old rice which
people said they never ate).

Then came the question of how polished the rice was. People said
that when it came to their local shop it had already been changed
from mo-mi (still with the husk on) to ge-n-ma-i (de-husked rice, or
unpolished rice, or "brown rice"). Only a few people ate genmai.
Some ate ha-i-ga-ma-i (outer skin removed by the rice germ still in
place). Most people ate ha-ku-ma-i (white rice).

After that comes how you would use or cook the rice. As mentioned
above, some rice is used for making mochi. Other rice is used for 
making o-ka-yu (rice gruel) or mixed with red beans to make
se-ki-ha-n. Most people said most of the rice they eat is hakumai.

The length of time rice was left in the rice cooker before eating
varied between 2 hours and 3 days. Some people said cooked rice
fresh for each meal and then used what was left to make onigiri or
other things: a few people said they only cooked rice once every
couple of days (a big shock for the rest).

Likewise, while most people said they they bought rice from their
local shop every month as they felt they wanted rice that had been
polished recently a few people said they bought it only once a
year as it didn't make any difference.

Conclusion. Since I didn't have any information about the
----------- California rice at the level of detail they were
talking about we couldn't really come to any conclusion except to
say that if rice is to be imported such information would need to
be provided. In addition, one person said that since the question
of pesticides and chemical fertilizers has been raised as an issue,
it would be useful to have this kind of information on the
packaging instead of "No talc added."

Left unspoken of is the fact that when Japanese eat rice, many
times they just eat rice. Not curry rice, not rice mixed with
vegetables, not rice and beans, but just plain rice. In my
experience this is atypical. I never ate just plain rice when I've
traveled in the rest of Asia.

Hope that sheds some light on the situation. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Since I wrote that, I bought an automatic rice cooker which makes
life a *lot* easier and spent the rest of the spring trying out
various kinds of rice, making sekihan, rice with sweet potatoes
(forget the name, but I like it) and so on.

The trouble with rice is the minimum amount you can reasonably cook
is about a cup. And if you live alone like I do, that's a fair
amount to eat all in one go. While some people I know keep the rice
in the cooker, I like to eat it when it's freshly made as it
*smells* so nice! 

Come the heat of summer, I've been learning something about noodles
as they taste great cold, and I can cook only as few as I want. 

Dave

--
Dave McLane                                       davidg@aegis.or.jp
You're free to copy/quote/translate this as long as credit is given. 
Nagaokakyoshi, Kyoto Japan Tel: +81-75-951-1168 Fax: +81-75-957-1087