The taste of rice

I often laugh at myself as “the reincarnation of the rice bug”, because even in my fifties, I would have to eat at least one cup of rice for every meal at home. Of course, you must eat more than one bowl when you eat out. Even if the extra meal is not free, you still have to add it, otherwise you will not be full.

Even if it is not free to eat extra meals outside, you will still encounter the situation that there is not enough rice. I can sympathize with the store. It is difficult to estimate exactly how much rice to cook. The bowl of rice that comes with the meal, now many people stop eating after one or two bites, saying they want to eat less starch. But I must eat more than two bowls (the “more” is shared by family members at the same table).

Sometimes I also eat bento when I go out. You will see that many people only eat vegetables, and throw away as kitchen waste if they don’t eat a bite of rice. I will definitely eat the whole box. Of course, it is unavoidable that some rice grains will stick to the bottom of the box, so that there is not a single grain left, but basically the whole bento is eaten.

I like the look and texture of plain rice, and I can even eat plain rice without any side dishes. So I absolutely hate the feeling of “soiling” rice with curry or marinade or any sauce. When I eat curry rice, I must clearly distinguish between white rice and curry, and eat a bite of white rice with a bite of curry.

Risotto is arguably the exception or not. Some stores pour the stew on the rice, so it is still separated.

Fried rice might be the real exception. I like to eat fried rice. But even fried rice I like “clean”. My favorite fried rice is without soy sauce, which is not only visually beautiful, but also has a precise aroma of rice and eggs. The addition of soy sauce may make it burnt, but it interferes with the original taste of the eggs and rice.

Another exception is the tofu pot. I’m going to dump the whole rice in at first. This is also a habit that I developed when I was studying in the United States nearly 30 years ago while eating tofu pot.

The times test the youth, and the youth create the era. Among the cheap restaurants, if you really want to eat all you can eat, the youth activity center is probably the only one.

A big pot of rice is all you can eat. Looking at that pot of rice, I feel healed and calm. From participating in group self-improvement activities when I was young, hundreds of students started at the same time, and everyone ate several bowls, to middle-aged and eating a box of vegetables with my family, I have never encountered a situation where I didn’t have enough food.

I’m not too picky about rice. This may have something to do with my life in the American Midwest at the end of the last century. At that time, I bought rice at the grocery store run by Asians in the countryside. I was happy to eat what I had, and there were not many choices. After eating like this for several years, when I returned to Taiwan, I felt that no matter what rice I bought, it was delicious when I cooked it.