Stimulating post. I know that there is considerable discomfort with paddy rice agriculture among environmentalists. And, of course, calls to try alternative grains like millet (this is a big thing now in China as modernization has brought the usual health problems, and older people look for healthier options than refined grains). But here is a question I have, and it is probably a silly one: the Chinese are very picky about their rice, and there is a distinct preference for the slower growing, Japonica varieties. The texture, fragrance, flavor--all of this is different. So I wonder whether there is a way to make highland rice more appealing to the Chinese-- a lot of the fast growing, drought-free varieties from Song to the Socialist period met with resistance from Chinese consumers.
That’s a fascinating question, and I suspect the answer lies as much in culture as in agronomy.
We can breed rice that needs less water, but breeding consumers is another matter. You probably understand when I write that people become attached not just to rice, but to a particular grain, aroma, texture and the dishes built around them.
Your comment also touches on something I’ve been researching for an upcoming essay.
We hear about the Strait of Hormuz almost exclusively as an oil chokepoint.
For centuries before oil, however, it was a rice chokepoint. Much of the Arabian Gulf was too arid to grow enough rice of its own, so the grain arrived by sea from India.
Over time, imported rice ceased to be a luxury and became the expected accompaniment to fish, meat and everyday meals.
In other words, trade didn’t simply satisfy an appetite for rice; it helped create one. That long history may explain why changing how we grow rice is likely to prove easier than changing whether people want to eat it. The dependence runs much deeper than modern agriculture.
Very interesting! I was teaching that in class the other day (the way that rice was once a very luxurious food in the Persianate world). Southern China’s dependence on rice is interesting—it is both very old [Song dynasty] but also recent. I once read stats about how much of the country relied on rice for their staple. The number was actually higher at the beginning of the early modern period than at the end of the imperial period—because the poor had shifted to New World crops like sweet potatoes, which could be planted in the highlands and absorb population growth. So when I think back to my ancestors in China, the ones who at the tail end of the 19th century, were the “landless Southern Chinese peasants” forced to migrate to Malaya, I imagine they were eating rice more occasionally than many of would think, and that their diets contained a lot of sweet potato. Go back even further in time, centuries before the prior to the arrival of the Champa indica variety, and I am sure they were eating a lot of taro and some millet, and growing wild rice and the like between the plantings of rice. I read actually that in the ancient south, planting rice was not an annual thing, and people often left the fields fallow for a few years. But then again, there weren’t many people in the ancient south, esp the deep south, two thousand years ago—and certainly not by northern Chinese standards!
Interesting, but: I can find no evidence that farmers rotate between plots or terraces.
Likewise, I cannot substantiate this claim that the head of manageme is always the person farming the plot at the bottom of the terrace. The subak leader is elected by the members. I found no evidence that leadership automatically belongs to the downstream farmer.
An interesting piece Elli. Have you ever been to Bali? They have a brilliant system of management of terraced rice fields there. The field are are individual owned by members of a community, but they rotate through the terrace in the field they farm. The head of management of water, burning etc for the year is always the person who is farming the plot at the bottom on the terrace. The one for whom the management of the flow of water has the most impact on the crop for the year. It’s a time honoured method that sits at the heart of how the Balinese live so successfully together preserving their traditions and culture.
Stimulating post. I know that there is considerable discomfort with paddy rice agriculture among environmentalists. And, of course, calls to try alternative grains like millet (this is a big thing now in China as modernization has brought the usual health problems, and older people look for healthier options than refined grains). But here is a question I have, and it is probably a silly one: the Chinese are very picky about their rice, and there is a distinct preference for the slower growing, Japonica varieties. The texture, fragrance, flavor--all of this is different. So I wonder whether there is a way to make highland rice more appealing to the Chinese-- a lot of the fast growing, drought-free varieties from Song to the Socialist period met with resistance from Chinese consumers.
That’s a fascinating question, and I suspect the answer lies as much in culture as in agronomy.
We can breed rice that needs less water, but breeding consumers is another matter. You probably understand when I write that people become attached not just to rice, but to a particular grain, aroma, texture and the dishes built around them.
Your comment also touches on something I’ve been researching for an upcoming essay.
We hear about the Strait of Hormuz almost exclusively as an oil chokepoint.
For centuries before oil, however, it was a rice chokepoint. Much of the Arabian Gulf was too arid to grow enough rice of its own, so the grain arrived by sea from India.
Over time, imported rice ceased to be a luxury and became the expected accompaniment to fish, meat and everyday meals.
In other words, trade didn’t simply satisfy an appetite for rice; it helped create one. That long history may explain why changing how we grow rice is likely to prove easier than changing whether people want to eat it. The dependence runs much deeper than modern agriculture.
Very interesting! I was teaching that in class the other day (the way that rice was once a very luxurious food in the Persianate world). Southern China’s dependence on rice is interesting—it is both very old [Song dynasty] but also recent. I once read stats about how much of the country relied on rice for their staple. The number was actually higher at the beginning of the early modern period than at the end of the imperial period—because the poor had shifted to New World crops like sweet potatoes, which could be planted in the highlands and absorb population growth. So when I think back to my ancestors in China, the ones who at the tail end of the 19th century, were the “landless Southern Chinese peasants” forced to migrate to Malaya, I imagine they were eating rice more occasionally than many of would think, and that their diets contained a lot of sweet potato. Go back even further in time, centuries before the prior to the arrival of the Champa indica variety, and I am sure they were eating a lot of taro and some millet, and growing wild rice and the like between the plantings of rice. I read actually that in the ancient south, planting rice was not an annual thing, and people often left the fields fallow for a few years. But then again, there weren’t many people in the ancient south, esp the deep south, two thousand years ago—and certainly not by northern Chinese standards!
Interesting, but: I can find no evidence that farmers rotate between plots or terraces.
Likewise, I cannot substantiate this claim that the head of manageme is always the person farming the plot at the bottom of the terrace. The subak leader is elected by the members. I found no evidence that leadership automatically belongs to the downstream farmer.
An interesting piece Elli. Have you ever been to Bali? They have a brilliant system of management of terraced rice fields there. The field are are individual owned by members of a community, but they rotate through the terrace in the field they farm. The head of management of water, burning etc for the year is always the person who is farming the plot at the bottom on the terrace. The one for whom the management of the flow of water has the most impact on the crop for the year. It’s a time honoured method that sits at the heart of how the Balinese live so successfully together preserving their traditions and culture.