Fascinating article! I had a conversation with friends over dinner last week. We are all medical and all very wary of reheating rice, remembering our microbiology lectures in medical school. However, I will happily eat arancini as you described and I have never thought twice about reheating pasta. I’m now examining my prejudices!
I suspect that “people in hot countries eat spices for their anti-microbial effect” is as untrue as “people in medieval Britain drank small beer because it didn’t make you sick.”
Historical people were as clever/stupid as we are. But they had no grasp of microbiology and often thought illnesses were caused by imbalances of humours and vapours.
My hypothesis would be that people in hot countries ate spices because they are good and because they are more likely to grow nearby.
I think the idea that Europeans didn’t eat spices unless they were imported is misleading. We have caraway, various mushrooms, fennel, saffron (which may well have been exported eastwards), juniper etc.
There is also something to be said for waves of colonisation and trade in Asia and subsequently the new world spreading spices locally as well as further afield.
Vital spices in India, like eg hing, are still cultivated in Iran. Star anise is from china. Cumin probably Iran etc.
Anyway, team rice saver over here. The same people throwing rice away are probably eating meals crammed with toxic ingredients!
I have a theory that if people are suspicious of rice it's more likely to be because they don't know how to cook it.The piece on rice I wrote 2 years ago was a journey from easy cook American rice to soggy student rice, to Iranian flatmate rice & finally learning how to cook it well.
I don't know any 'white people' who live in fear of the grain but I do remember having it drummed into me when doing my catering training about leftover rice & other starches. Rice was in the spotlight because of the amount of surface area the bacteria could cover, with lots of little grains. Ditto cous cous. The FSA advice is to recook once only, and never to reheat rice from takaways as it may already have been reheated once. It would have been very useful for this article if the FSA had been approached for comment. I always reheat rice, store & freeze it. It's never wasted.
It's a minor tradgedy that, as this piece suggests, so many people are missing out on next day (or the day after that or the day after that) fried rice. Which has to be cumulatively one of life's simplest but greatest pleasures?
Purely anecdotal of course but I've been egg-frying yesterday's rice (left out, often uncovered) for at least a decade. And I'm not yet dead.
When I heard about the rice-poisoning I was flabbergasted! It was a few years ago now. I thought if anything, it was rice fermenting because it had been left out in a hot kitchen overnight or something. We have been eating rice all our lives, my parents have been all their lives, and at least 3 of our grandparents all of their lives as well. In fact, “pish-pash” which is a much made of rice, ground meat and dahl is one of the first baby foods we ate. We grew up in Pakistan and ate street food all the time as well and never did we get sick. Perhaps this fear originates from the US where there is evidence of arsenic in US grown rice (both organic and non) ? Classic red-herring tactic used by the West to deflect blame. It definitely smells of racism to me and I am not afraid to say it. Great article! We have rice in the fridge, 3 days old and will eat it all this week. I do heat it well but have eaten cold rice with yoghurt for brekkie often.
I had not heard of people being afraid of leftover rice, though the MSG scare I am familiar with. I grew up with parents who were born during the depression, and who lived to never waste any food, and ingrained (ha) in me the same.
Lovely piece. All my adult life I've treated leftover rice as treasure in my fridge... I'd never heard of this "danger" and am shocked at the "throw it out!" reflex. That's shocking. You must never throw out rice is the rule.
In Spain, they leave the tortilla (potatoes and eggs) out all day in cafés. I never thought about it until I was wrapping up the leftovers of one of mine and was putting it in the refrigerator. I’ve never gotten sick from a slice in Spain! And it’s just as starchy as rice!
Fascinating article! I had a conversation with friends over dinner last week. We are all medical and all very wary of reheating rice, remembering our microbiology lectures in medical school. However, I will happily eat arancini as you described and I have never thought twice about reheating pasta. I’m now examining my prejudices!
Surely... you can't b cereus
(Sorry, I've wanted to write that for SO long)
This is the investigative journalism I need on alleged Blue Monday. Top work.
I suspect that “people in hot countries eat spices for their anti-microbial effect” is as untrue as “people in medieval Britain drank small beer because it didn’t make you sick.”
Historical people were as clever/stupid as we are. But they had no grasp of microbiology and often thought illnesses were caused by imbalances of humours and vapours.
My hypothesis would be that people in hot countries ate spices because they are good and because they are more likely to grow nearby.
I think the idea that Europeans didn’t eat spices unless they were imported is misleading. We have caraway, various mushrooms, fennel, saffron (which may well have been exported eastwards), juniper etc.
There is also something to be said for waves of colonisation and trade in Asia and subsequently the new world spreading spices locally as well as further afield.
Vital spices in India, like eg hing, are still cultivated in Iran. Star anise is from china. Cumin probably Iran etc.
Anyway, team rice saver over here. The same people throwing rice away are probably eating meals crammed with toxic ingredients!
I have a theory that if people are suspicious of rice it's more likely to be because they don't know how to cook it.The piece on rice I wrote 2 years ago was a journey from easy cook American rice to soggy student rice, to Iranian flatmate rice & finally learning how to cook it well.
I don't know any 'white people' who live in fear of the grain but I do remember having it drummed into me when doing my catering training about leftover rice & other starches. Rice was in the spotlight because of the amount of surface area the bacteria could cover, with lots of little grains. Ditto cous cous. The FSA advice is to recook once only, and never to reheat rice from takaways as it may already have been reheated once. It would have been very useful for this article if the FSA had been approached for comment. I always reheat rice, store & freeze it. It's never wasted.
It's a minor tradgedy that, as this piece suggests, so many people are missing out on next day (or the day after that or the day after that) fried rice. Which has to be cumulatively one of life's simplest but greatest pleasures?
Purely anecdotal of course but I've been egg-frying yesterday's rice (left out, often uncovered) for at least a decade. And I'm not yet dead.
When I heard about the rice-poisoning I was flabbergasted! It was a few years ago now. I thought if anything, it was rice fermenting because it had been left out in a hot kitchen overnight or something. We have been eating rice all our lives, my parents have been all their lives, and at least 3 of our grandparents all of their lives as well. In fact, “pish-pash” which is a much made of rice, ground meat and dahl is one of the first baby foods we ate. We grew up in Pakistan and ate street food all the time as well and never did we get sick. Perhaps this fear originates from the US where there is evidence of arsenic in US grown rice (both organic and non) ? Classic red-herring tactic used by the West to deflect blame. It definitely smells of racism to me and I am not afraid to say it. Great article! We have rice in the fridge, 3 days old and will eat it all this week. I do heat it well but have eaten cold rice with yoghurt for brekkie often.
I’ve always reheated rice… only realised people are scared of this today!
I used to be Team Casual Rice Saver. Then I had a dodgy night.
Now I'm far more careful of storing and reheating rice and pasta.
But I don't throw it away! My ancestors would be aghast!
In the Prologue to this episode we discover who Dr. Ho Man Kwok was: https://www.thisamericanlife.org/668/the-long-fuse
I had not heard of people being afraid of leftover rice, though the MSG scare I am familiar with. I grew up with parents who were born during the depression, and who lived to never waste any food, and ingrained (ha) in me the same.
Lovely piece. All my adult life I've treated leftover rice as treasure in my fridge... I'd never heard of this "danger" and am shocked at the "throw it out!" reflex. That's shocking. You must never throw out rice is the rule.
This was great! Beautifully written :)
I would say it may be subconsciously influenced by being poor at reheating it.
Fascinating article, impeccably researched and beautifully written, this explains something that for me too has long been a mystery!
In Spain, they leave the tortilla (potatoes and eggs) out all day in cafés. I never thought about it until I was wrapping up the leftovers of one of mine and was putting it in the refrigerator. I’ve never gotten sick from a slice in Spain! And it’s just as starchy as rice!