the limits of uncle ben's rice, vittles 2.9

stir fried brown rice with smoked tofu

i wrote a short essay for vittles, a food newsletter for these novel corona times. it is about uncle ben's. when i shared it with family, baba wrote back telling me that he had never been able to develop a taste for it. i must admit that i had assumed as much. he is very particular about his rice and prefers for it to perfectly steamed so that each grain is discrete. he is not keen on risotto for instance. 

he told me that the first time he ever had uncle ben's was in 1977 during his first trip to europe. it was hunger and a tight financial budget that compelled him to eat it. later on, frequent visits to the united states must have led him to eat it again. i did however learn that he has a developed a great taste for sticky rice (the way the japanese and south korean's eat it). what i loved most though was his closing line which reads, this is despite the fact that 'i live and was born in the land of basmati and god awesome seyla'.

head over to vittles to read 'the limit's of uncle ben's rice'.