DID YOU KNOW?
Life is beautiful:
In fact, this recipe is an excellent opportunity for me to tell you all about the incredible food that is rice!
And not just because it's found in the Camargue, but because it's found everywhere! A staple of many civilizations and cultures, rice has long since crossed the natural boundaries of our beautiful planet to become part of our collective daily lives.
Through my many professional travels, I've come to realize just how varied rice can be, but above all how essential it is to the human diet: nourishing and helping to overcome the most common food allergies.
In many Asian languages, the word "to eat" is also called "to eat rice", because it's so common to eat rice at every meal!
Originating in China, where it is diversifying, it symbolizes prosperity and abundance.
That's why rice is thrown at the bride and groom as they leave church; we're lucky the stones don't have the same significance!
On a more serious note, Muslims believe that rice was born from a drop of the Prophet's sweat that fell to the ground.
A Japanese legend has it that, at a time when the population was hungry, a monk noticed a mouse nibbling on a little seed that was unknown at the time. To find the origin of this vein without frightening the mouse, he discreetly tied a string to its paw, revealing the place where rice grew in abundance. Since then, the mouse has been a sacred animal.
In some parts of Asia, it was even believed that rice had a soul, which is why harvesting had to be done in silence... so as not to frighten the rice's soul.
In India, rice sprinkled around the cradles of newborn babies protected them from malevolent spirits.
Sometimes colored red to symbolize fire, rice always has a benevolent function in different regions of the world!
A symbol of the divine, rice is among us... much to my delight!
