Rice

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As blood is as vital to the human body to sustain itself, rice is the elixir of foods for this Filipino’s heart. Not only is it a staple food for my culture, people, and I, but it also has this ‘mystical’ bond that unites our Filipino cultured family together. Maybe it is its satisfying texture or its fulfilling nature but I know that there is one thing for certain, it helps bind my family together like the sticky cooked substance it is, and if someone was to label rice as a poison to the body I WILL feel a deep unconceivable stabbing at my heart bending my knees to the ground and face skywards asking God “WHY”! sorta like the way Charlton Heston portrayed the main character in the 1968 version of “Planet of the Apes”.

ivoryhut.com/2010/09/biko-filipino-sweet-sticky-rice/

As far as I could remember, rice has been eaten at almost every meal, party, and event. Without it, meals taste bland and unsatisfying; empty, lost or confusing in flavor. It is kind of like eating spaghetti without the sauce or like listening to a musician putting zero effort into their music. Maybe I’m over exaggerating a bit, but I really really, really, love rice! We would eat rice with other foods that would not usually be eaten with other things besides rice, such as fried chicken and chicken nuggets. For some reason we feel the need to but at least a cup of rice on the side to combine the both already delicious foods and make it into a masterpiece of a dish. For the dishes that require rice, we would first but the rice on a bowl, then place the rice-required meal on top of it. With every spoon and or fork dip we would first scoop or cut a piece of whatever is on top of the rice, then proceed to scoop the spoon into the most precious of layers; the rice layer. Same would go for steaks of meat. We would apply the same principles but first cut the steak then continue with a spoon of rice. Filipinos even created many desserts made out of rice such as Biko; a rice dense block mixed with brown sugar and lots of delicious sweets. When I would ask my dad how his life was in the Philippines and what they ate, he would tell me that would give him a bowl of sweet rice pudding for breakfast to start of the day. And when my family was low on other substances to eat for a main course meal, they would “add a little more rice”. But this tradition or law as my cousin would put it, would not have been a foundation for me if it was not for my family carrying out the love of rice to their children.

www.zazzle.com/got_rice

I on the other hand will always remember when I would see my grandmother Lolah hand feed my younger cousins rice when they were babies. Because of its nutritious density, it was a carb loaded food that satisfied the young ones bellies. I will carry the torch of eating rice with almost every meal to my children, even if my wife disapproves. That’s probably the reason why some of my family members tell me to marry a Filipina!