Thai Rice is Different!

Every country has its own unique and symbolic culture or traditions.  One aspect of Thai culture that appears to most foreigners and tourists is the very significant Thai cuisine. Most of the Thai food does not only have their very own remarkable spicy taste, but they also have to be eaten with a very important side dish.

Imagine eating your gravy without the mashed potatoes, cheese without the macaroni noodles, tacos without the shells, or hamburgers without the buns…it just makes the meal seem strange, doesn’t it?  For Thai people, we cannot just eat the Thai dishes without our rice.

Thailand grows and exports one of the world’s best rice; competing with China, India, Japan, and Brazil. Every single grain of rice is carefully harvested and processed by the farmers, sometimes by machines in the more developed areas, in order to give consumers the finest and best-quality rice.

Rice plays an important role in Thai people’s lives. Thai people from all ages, no matter how young or old they are, usually have rice along with their main dishes. It usually takes about twenty to thirty minutes to prepare and cook rice. And just like that, we’ve got hot, steaming rice that is ready to be eaten with Thai curry, stir-fried chicken and vegetables, or any other main dish usually cooked. The best and most well known type of rice from Thailand is the Jasmine rice, which has a pure white color and a full, plump shape. The fact that there are many different kinds of rice, and that they are available at various prices according to their quality, has been distorted nowadays. Most people tend to assume that rice is all the same when they go out to get Chinese food or Mexican food. Jasmine rice is one of a kind and I urge you to try and learn more about this type of Thai rice.

Next time you think of eating some rice, try grabbing a bag of real Jasmine rice from the grocery store, and not those boxes of instant rice! I assure you that you will be incredibly satisfied and fall in love with our rice because Thai Jasmine rice does have the best texture and taste of all the other types of rice.

                Written by: Najeejaras Bothdamrih
WSU International Student
Thailand