Rice: Its heritage and role as a staple food

Rice cultivation in SEA began more than 7000 years ago. Since then, people, cultures and agriculture have been intrinsically interwoven together, with rice as the binding element. Rice in SEA is multi-faceted in nature, playing many roles, affecting many people in many different ways. This post will focus on rice being the staple food of many Southeast Asians. But before we begin discussing rice as a staple, let’s first take a short journey back in time, to understand the beginnings of rice in SEA.

It has been postulated that rice was first cultivated somewhere in South or Southeast Asia, from “Upper Assam in India, through Thailand and Myanmar, into Southwest China and North Vietnam”. Rice traces discovered at Nom Nok Tha and Ban Chiang in Northeast Thailand indicates that rice cultivation began before 4500BC. Rice remains found in a number of Chinese villages indicate that cultivation was already established that during 5000BC. These 2 countries have remained strong proponents in the rice market, the former being the top exporter of rice in the world, and the latter being the top producer and consumer of rice in the world. You might now be wondering if we’ve made a mistake because China is not in SEA and should not considered in the scope of our discussion. However, we believe that countries and regions are not mutually exclusive from each other, as their inhabitants have eclectic ethnic backgrounds and cultures. Therefore, with the many Chinese residing in all parts of SEA, China should not be excluded from our discussion. This notion of connectivity between SEA and other countries is further reinforced by the discovery that rice spread to the Philippines from China. In fact, it is believed that the Cordillera terraces in Northern Luzon were built by Southern Chinese in the second millennium BC. Till now, rice has played a crucial role in the countries mentioned above, along with the rest of SEA. The vast growth of rice in SEA was largely instigated by measures undertaken by the rulers, who constructed infrastructure and established policies to promotes rice cultivation. A case in point would be that of the Bowring Treaty of 1855 by Siamese rulers, which resulted in the expansion of rice trade beyond the Gulf of Thailand. Even now, after centuries have passed, rice still plays a crucial role in SEA’s trade, and also as the staple food of the region.

In many Southeast Asian languages, ‘to eat’ is often synonymous with ‘to eat rice’, and examples would be that of “tarn kao” in Thai and “ngajengang” in Balinese. This strongly suggests that rice is of relatively high importance in the region. During dire times, rice is often the only sustenance of the needy. When parents recount about how difficult life was back then, the contents of their daily meals will frequently be mentioned. Rice and soy sauce. Because of its long shelf life and high energy provision, rice was often the choice of food for many households. There is no doubt that rice is of great importance to many Southeast Asian households, especially those of lower income groups. However, has the importance of rice been declining with globalization and modernization? It is no longer uncommon for someone to follow a “low-carb” diet in a bid to shed those extra pounds. And with a rice grain being 82% carbohydrate, it is often the first item struck off the food list of dieters. But even if a decline is occuring, such a decline would be slow as many Southeast Asian countries are still relatively undeveloped and hence are not yet exposed to the largely Americanized dieting fads. As such, rice can still be considered to be of high importance to the region as a source of food.

References

Piper, Jacqueline M. (1993). Rice in South-East Asia: Cultures and Landscapes.
UK: Oxford University Press.