I have been a student of geography in my undergraduate days. And I know about paddy/padi and rice. Lowland padi, highland padi, irrigation methods, long grain, short grain, its many varieties; how padi is cultivated, mechanised and traditional, places where padi is grown like South East Asia, South Asia and parts of Africa and even cultivated in the United States. Infact rice is grown in 114 countries in the world. In 2007 it was estimated that 645 million tonnes were harvested...and thats alot of rice to go around. The Asian countries produced almost half of that, where China and India is accountable for 50% of the Asian production. The subject of padi and rice was and is still interesting to me where most people take for granted. Recent events and the sudden escalation of food prices including rice which is the staple food of most Malaysians and its neighbours have made us more aware of food production and rice in particular. A ten kilo bag of rice which I used to buy at RM 28 now cost close to RM40. No wonder, the rising cost of rice even caused some riots in some parts of the world. It is sad but true. I remember when I was a kid staying with my grandparents in a village called Semabok ( about 2 miles from town ) , in Malacca, we used to have 2 water buffaloes which my grandfather kept for work in the padi fields that almost encircled our then atap house. He will take up jobs in ploughing the fields and also leased out the buffaloes to others to till the fields. In the evening he used to bathe the buffaloes at a nearby well, cut and stock-up grass for the animals. Its hard work no doubt, just to earn a few ringgit and rice. But modernisation and urbanisation swept us by, with the town slowly swallowing up most of the fields. Now, I cannot see any remnants of those fields anymore..they are gone forever. Similarly, during my final year in College, on a field visit to Kedah ( known as Malaysia's ricebowl ) sometime in 1976, we observed that rice fields were slowly being turned into residential areas and factories in the name of progress - and at that time, there was a programme by the Agriculture Department to make us self-sufficient in rice ! Dunno what happened to the policy, perhaps it just was left forgotten since it is cheaper to import rice rather than grow. Must be a dilemma for economists.
Rice is our staple food and almost half of the world's population eat rice in one form or other. In Malaysia, with rice, one can do wonders with it. From rice one can generate hundreds of dishes or menus...and to justify this point on a recent visit to Singapore, I did a small survey at the Geylang Market. Its a kind of mixed market actually where they sell vegetables, meats, and all stuff that you need in the kitchen. In the market there are at least fifty or more stalls selling food...so much food, so many varieties and smell. This happens to be my favourite place besides being with my grand daughter of course. Just to give an idea of the influence of rice, we have the following rice menu ( all within 100 feet radius of the stalls ) : nasi means rice - nasi lemak, nasi goreng kampong, nasi goreng cina, nasi bawean, nasi kerabu, nasi berlauk, nasi ayam, nasi uduk, nasi tumpeng, nasi himpit, nasi kuning, nasi dagang, nasi bojari, nasi bokhari, nasi katok, nasi daunpisang, and if you wrap the rice its called nasi bungkus ! And that does not include all the varieties of rice cakes ( hundreds of varieties of cakes and pastries made from rice flour ! ) I got to stop now, need to eat my rice pudding !
Rice is our staple food and almost half of the world's population eat rice in one form or other. In Malaysia, with rice, one can do wonders with it. From rice one can generate hundreds of dishes or menus...and to justify this point on a recent visit to Singapore, I did a small survey at the Geylang Market. Its a kind of mixed market actually where they sell vegetables, meats, and all stuff that you need in the kitchen. In the market there are at least fifty or more stalls selling food...so much food, so many varieties and smell. This happens to be my favourite place besides being with my grand daughter of course. Just to give an idea of the influence of rice, we have the following rice menu ( all within 100 feet radius of the stalls ) : nasi means rice - nasi lemak, nasi goreng kampong, nasi goreng cina, nasi bawean, nasi kerabu, nasi berlauk, nasi ayam, nasi uduk, nasi tumpeng, nasi himpit, nasi kuning, nasi dagang, nasi bojari, nasi bokhari, nasi katok, nasi daunpisang, and if you wrap the rice its called nasi bungkus ! And that does not include all the varieties of rice cakes ( hundreds of varieties of cakes and pastries made from rice flour ! ) I got to stop now, need to eat my rice pudding !
