Rice Stories and Rice Recipes

The origin of rice was asked recently in an email. I thought it is good question, so I did some research about it. I tried to send the answer back to the person who asked the question. Unfortunately the email did not go through, so I decided to put together what I found on the Net here.

Rice has been one of the most important foods of Chinese for thousands of years. It is believed that Chinese started to eat rice about 5,000 years ago. It is also believed that rice cultivation was originated by Shen Nung, the Divine Farmer, around 2,737 BC. By tasting various wild plants, he also discovered which plants were useful and which plants were harmful or poisonous. Yet origin is always a very complicated issue, especially for rice, such an antique plant. For more information, check out the following links.

General Information

• A Brief History of Rice -- includes introduction, origin and diffusion of rice, and early spread of rice.
  
• Rice in China
  
• Rice Web -- the best resource about rice on the Net.
  
• Rice World -- the world's only museum dedicated to rice.
  
• Rice Nutrition
  
• International Rice Research Institute Library -- rice books.
  
• Facts about USA Rice
  
• Rice Journal
  
• Rice Links -- more information on the Net.