Seattle Chef Chad Christian Clift knows the value of rice, which happens to be the most consumed food in the entire world. This grain is most often harvested as a cereal, before it is dried and sold. It is estimated that one fifth of the total calories eaten by a human each year comes directly from rice. With numbers that high, it is shocking to think where the world would be without this important grain. Rice was domesticated nearly fourteen thousand years ago, and has provided nutrition and sustenance to the world for as long as it has been grown.
Around the globe, there are over 40,000 different strains of rice, so many that it is nearly impossible to keep track of the various types. Many countries have their own varieties and species, each with traits that are needed or useful for the people of that particular nation. Bangladesh has forty different varieties of rice that are grown readily in the country, and Indonesia grows more than seventy different varieties. While there are so many different types, there are only a handful that are well known and readily used in the western world. These include long grain rice, basmati rice, white jasmine rice, and risotto rice. Other common varieties are dark wild rice, black rice, red cargo rice, and brown short grain rice. As a Chef, Chad Christian Clift has yet to find a strain of rice that he does not love cooking with or eating.
Chad Christian Clift 