The Rice Book

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A Book for someone really interested in rice - Rated
That was not meant to be rude. This is a fascinating book about rice, its history, its place in society, the types and how they are prepared and cooked. But it is not really a cook book for the casual cook looking for a easy recipe for supper. I am not suggesting that all cook books have to meet that criterion but this is a book for someone who wants more than a quick idea about what to do with that bag of rice.

The Rice Book - Rated
I tend to find books based on just one ingredient limiting, but rice is such a universal foodstuff that Owen uses it to introduce the reader to a wealth of different cusines, from the Mediterranean, to Scandivia and Asia.

Rice is much more than a nutritional comodity, it's intimately involved in the culture as well as the food ways and economy of many societies. For example, folklore tells us that when the Kachins of northern Myanmar (Burma) were sent forth from the center of the Earth, they were given the seeds of rice and were directed to a wondrous country where everything was perfect and where rice grew well. Rice is an integral part of their creation myth and remains today as their leading crop and most preferred food. In Bali, it is believed that the Lord Vishnu caused the Earth to give birth to rice, and the God Indra taught the people how to raise it. In both tales, rice is considered a gift of the gods, and even today in both places, rice is treated with reverence, and its cultivation is tied to elaborate rituals.

Owen distils an enormous amount of knowledge and research into a readable accessible and very practical cookbook that tells you not only how to make a perfect bowl of fluffy rice, but how to smoke duck or mix up the ultimate spicy peanut sauce.

The fact that the book, first published in 1993, has just been reissued testfies to the fact that it's become an authoritative classic.

The Rice Book - Rated
I've often thought that books based on just one ingredient can be restrictive, but rice is so universal a foodstuff that Sri Owen uses it to introduce the reader to a gamut of varied cusines, from the Mediterranean, South East Asia and the Balkans.

Through history, rice has never been just a food or diet, but it has been symbolizing a culture and history in countries like Japan, China Burma and in the Indian Subcontient as it enters in many myths and folklores. There are many religious festivals and rituals associated with rice, for example, in place of confetti rice is thrown at the bride and groom in Hindu wedding ceremonies, symbolising a long and fertile union for the newlyweds.

Some of the fossils and the writings on ancient monuments in caves in Thailand and Burma revealed that there were methods for cultivating rice thousands of years ago. Some writings trace this back to more than 7000 years in China and to more than 10000 years in Southern Thailand.

Owen distils an enormous amount of knowledge and research into a readable accessible and very practical cookbook that tells you not only how to make a perfect bowl of fluffy rice, but how to smoke duck or mix up the ultimate spicy peanut sauce.

The fact that the book, first published in 1993, has just been reissued testfies to the fact that it's become an authoritative classic.