Re: Basmati Rice

[Guest guest]

Hi, Deb

I don't think there are objections specifically to Basmati...or Jasmine...or

any of the other polished rices. Even though Fallon does recommend brown

rice in NT, I'd read other information that made me decide I wasn't going to

eat brown rice exclusively UNLESS it was fermented. And fermenting brown

rice appears to be more difficult than just soaking it overnight, which

seems to present an issue about anti-nutrients for those who consume brown

rice as part of a regular diet. I know, I know, you asked about white rice.

LOL. I eat Jasmine...Basmati....and instead of brown rice, I eat cargo rice

which is the unpolished version of Basmati. It has an oatmeal flavor.

Brown rice? I stick to brown rice miso. I'm of the opinion brown rice is

too difficult to digest and the anti-nutrients are an issue. Here's one

article that does another job of pros/cons:

Brown Rice?

Regarding the recent article by Sally Fallon and Enig entitled " Inside

Japan <http://www.westonaprice.org/traditional_diets/japan.html>, " I would

like to comment on several statements that I felt were misleading or

incorrect:

1. " As long as the diet is rich in fat-soluble vitamins from fish and organ

meats, and minerals from broth and seaweed, white rice can be consumed

without ill effects. " I know of no research data that supports this

statement directly. Where's the evidence? It goes without saying that any

diet that is rich in vitamins and minerals will be more healthy than a diet

lacking those elements--all other things being equal. But wouldn't it be

better to consume a diet " rich in fat-soluble vitamins . . . and minerals, "

*plus* have the additional nutrients found in brown rice? Sally Fallon's own

book *Nourishing Traditions *states, " Brown rice is highest of all grains in

B vitamins, and also contains iron, vitamin E, and some protein. These

nutrients are almost completely missing in white rice. " Why would anyone

want to go without the essential nutrients found in properly prepared brown

rice, and instead, consume nutrient-deficient white rice that is the product

of modern refining techniques? Is this in line with Weston A. Price's

teachings that the traditional way is best? I think not! Using the authors'

rationale, we could also say that white flour has no " adverse effects " as

long as it is consumed with a diet rich in vitamins and minerals. Will we

find that the next edition of Mrs. Fallon's book recommends white flour as

well as white rice? Dr. Price would turn over in his grave!

2. " Macrobiotic proponents claim that the traditional (Japanese) diet was

based on whole brown rice, not refined rice. " The macrobiotic proponents are

correct. According to the *Encyclopedia Britanica*: " The Chinese and East

Indians, who ate brown rice for centuries, began to suffer from widespread

malnutrition after the British introduced white rice. " In regards to Japan,

" Not too long ago the daily meal of the farmers in this area consisted of

rice and barley with miso and pickled vegetables . . . . The traditional

brown rice-and-vegetable diet of the East is very different from that of

most Western societies " (*The One-Straw Revolution*, Masanobu Fukuoka, a

former Japanese agricultural customs inspector who pioneered sustainable

" natural " farming techniques in Japan.).

3. " The Japanese prefer . . . white rice, and this may reflect a profound

intuition that when brown rice is consumed on a daily basis, it should be

refined not whole, unless a long and careful preparation (of soaking and

cooking) is observed. " In fact, the Japanese did soak their brown, whole

rice. " In Japan, where there is an almost mystical aura surrounding the

planting, harvesting and preparation of rice, it is believed that soaking

rice before cooking releases the life energy and gives the eater a more

peaceful soul " (Marie , *Rice the Amazing Grain*). The Japanese had

the same intuitive wisdom that led the Indians and the Europeans to soak

their whole grains. It is also fair to assume that the Japanese now prefer

white rice for the same reasons that the Indians prefer white rice and the

Americans prefer white flour products. Let's not suggest that the use of

white rice is some kind of Asian intuitive wisdom.

5. " But is the macrobiotic diet actually representative of the Japanese

diet? Not really. " And that's a good thing! The modern Japanese diet

featuring white rice is as undesirable as the modern American diet that uses

white flour products. Both are not traditional diets, because they do not

use whole grains. Also, it should be pointed out that macrobiotics does

suggest the soaking of brown rice. (See *The Complete Guide To Macrobiotic

Cooking* by Aveline Kushi, once the world's foremost macrobiotic cooking

instructor.)

6. " Macrobiotic cookbooks contain recipes for broth and pickled foods, but

the importance of these is not stressed . . . . " Unfortunately, this is more

misinformation about macrobiotics. The Aveline Kushi cookbook mentioned

above devotes an entire chapter to both soup/stocks and fermented pickles.

Kushi says of pickles, " Pickles increase the appetite, aid digestion, and

strengthen the intestines . . . . In Japan, almost every family made their

own pickles and enjoyed them daily at each meal. We customarily ate pickles

at tea time in the mid-afternoon, as well as for breakfast, lunch and

dinner. "

In conclusion, I am sorry to say that the authors appear to have a negative

bias regarding Asian foods and macrobiotics. They suggest that people eat

whole grains, such as wheat, buckwheat, rye, etc., yet at the same time they

recommend that people eat refined rice; they suggest that people consume a

traditional diet in the spirit of Weston A. Price's discoveries, yet they

recommend that people eat white rice as is found in the modern,

non-traditional Japanese diet; and finally, they unfairly criticize and

misrepresent macrobiotics, which is the one popular dietary discipline that

recommends truly traditional food practices similar to their own teachings.

While I do not agree with macrobiotics 100 percent, and I think a few of

Fallon's and Enig's criticisms of macrobiotics are accurate, let's give

credit where credit is due.

Windsor

Former editor of *Spectrum Magazine*

*The question we are trying to solve is whether white rice is a traditional

part of the Japanese diet or something that was only brought in with modern

milling machines. Reference to white rice was made as far back as Confucius,

so hand-milled white rice has been available since ancient times, if only

for the wealthy. What modern machinery did was make white rice broadly

available to consumers of lesser income. The milling companies now keep the

bran which formerly was fed to chickens, ducks, pigs and carp, with the

nutrients returning to the human diet via the animals and their meat.*

* Soaking does indeed make brown rice more digestible, but is soaking a

sufficient processing technique in cultures that consume rice with every

meal? The *Handbook of Indigenous Fermented Foods* describes rice

preparation methods in India and the Philippines. In both regions, the rice

was wet ground and soaked for at least 22 hours, with the addition of an

inoculum to encourage the fermentation process. It would be interesting to

know whether such preparation methods were used in ancient Japan. We

question whether overnight soaking of the intact grains is adequate for

antinutrient neutralization when rice is consumed as the main source of

calories. *

* Many macrobiotic books do indeed contain recipes for broth and pickles,

but only small portions of fish are recommended and many teachers encourage

students to consume mostly brown rice as a way to spiritual enlightenment.

This is a far cry from the healthy traditional Japanese diet with high

levels of animal foods. A typical meal will contain several servings of fish

or meat with a single serving of rice--not the reverse.*

* Given the evidence presented here, it seems safe to conclude that rice in

Japan was consumed both whole and refined, with many gradations in between.

White rice was consumed by the wealthy who would also have been able to

afford a wide variety of animal foods that provided plentiful nutrients to

offset the empty calories of the rice. But the rice was valuable,

nonetheless, in serving as the raw material for the body to make saturated

fat. The peasant diet of soaked (but not fermented) whole brown rice and

lacking in animal foods presents the distinct possibility of many

deficiencies, particularly zinc.*

*http://www.westonaprice.org/letters/L2001wi.html*

**

*-Sharon*

On Tue, Oct 14, 2008 at 2:06 PM, The Deb <purple66moon@...> wrote:

> I don't see any recipes for soaked Indian Basmati rice in NT and I'm

> not a fan of brown rice, believe it or not. I've used Basmati instead

> of white bleaced rice for a decade now and my kids love it. What are

> the objections to using it? It's not like we have it all the time, but

> I'm wondering if there is something I need to know about it??

> Deb in NC

>

>

>

--

Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to

conscience, above all liberties. - Milton, Areopagitica

Deut 11:15 He will put grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will

have plenty to eat.

Check out my blog - www.ericsons.net - Food for the Body and Soul

[Guest guest]

And another one - this one on whether or not Japanese ate brown rice as part

of their traditional diet. -Sharon

Or White Rice?

In 1979, my wife Jan and I studied miso-making at the Onozaki family miso

shop in Yaita, Japan, which is about 100 miles north of Tokyo. The Onozakis

are a very traditional family and live in a 300-year-old house that looks

and feels like an historic museum. During our stay we took lots of notes and

asked many questions. The Onozakis had an 800-year-old record of their

family history and documents that dated back centuries. One night I asked

Mr. Onozaki whether he ever heard of Japanese people eating brown rice.

Although he was aware of modern health fads recommending brown rice, he said

that, as far as he knew, traditionally the Japanese never ate brown rice. He

said before the advent of manual and electric milling equipment, rice was

milled using a very labor-intense process. Since it took so much time and

energy to mill rice to pure white, poor people often ate barley or only

partially milled rice. However, this was for economic rather than health

reasons. On the other hand, it is interesting to note that even today,

Japanese people can go to their local rice miller and get brown rice milled

to any degree they want, from 10 percent milled to 100 percent white rice.

Mr. Onozaki went on to say that traditionally brown rice was considered hard

to digest and not very good tasting.

When we asked the Onozakis to try making amazake from sweet brown rice,

however, they first milled it to take off about 50 percent of the bran. To

our surprise they liked the taste and began selling it to local people along

with their miso and miso pickles.

We also noticed what a small part unfermented soy food products play in the

traditional Japanese diet. Although we were served fermented soy foods, such

as soy sauce, miso and natto every day, Mrs. Onozaki only served tofu about

once a week and never soy milk. When we asked about this, we were simply

told that unfermented soy is " bad for digestion. "

http://www.westonaprice.org/letters/L2001wi.html

Belleme

Saluda, NC

On Tue, Oct 14, 2008 at 2:06 PM, The Deb <purple66moon@...> wrote:

> I don't see any recipes for soaked Indian Basmati rice in NT and I'm

> not a fan of brown rice, believe it or not. I've used Basmati instead

> of white bleaced rice for a decade now and my kids love it. What are

> the objections to using it? It's not like we have it all the time, but

> I'm wondering if there is something I need to know about it??

> Deb in NC

>

>

>

--

Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to

conscience, above all liberties. - Milton, Areopagitica

Deut 11:15 He will put grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will

have plenty to eat.

Check out my blog - www.ericsons.net - Food for the Body and Soul

[Guest guest]

But don't you think in average/poor families that polishing rice in the

old times wasn't typically done daily but rather for special

occasions? Just a thought.

I've been wondering about my brown rice - I usually buy Uncle Ben's

because it rarely has those gum-jabbing hulls in it. It looks brown

but I don't see much of a germ in it and I'm wondering if it's had the

germ removed but just hasn't been bleached.

[Guest guest]

Also, Sally Fallon said that even though the Japanese didn't eat much

meat, the white rice was easily converted into cholesterol so they had

enough of that nutrient.

On Oct 14, 2008, at 12:21 PM, Sharon son wrote:

And

Parashis

artpages@...

artpagesonline.com

[Guest guest]

*On Wed, Oct 15, 2008 at 7:58 AM, haecklers <haecklers@...> wrote:

But don't you think in average/poor families that polishing rice in the

old times wasn't typically done daily but rather for special

occasions? Just a thought.

I've been wondering about my brown rice - I usually buy Uncle Ben's

because it rarely has those gum-jabbing hulls in it. It looks brown

but I don't see much of a germ in it and I'm wondering if it's had the

germ removed but just hasn't been bleached. *

Not sure who you were asking, but I'll take a guess.......the poor were the

ones doing the polishing. Well, I guess that depends on how far you want to

go, but they polished it for the Royalty. I really think they need the

resistant starch from the rice. I can't think of too many other forms of

starch they would have ingested, and without that, the all-important

secondary fermentation in the intestines just wouldn't be happening. I like

the idea they still got the nutrients from the bran that was polished off,

because they fed it to their livestock (poultry, pigs, etc.)

There's an underground movement of people Uncle Ben's, but don't tell anyone

I said so.....

My issue with UB is the fortification.

-Sharon

>

>

--

" You have to pinch yourself – a Marxisant radical who all his life has been

mentored by, sat at the feet of, worshipped with, befriended, endorsed the

philosophy of, funded and been in turn funded, politically promoted and

supported by a nexus comprising black power anti-white racists, Jew-haters,

revolutionary Marxists, unrepentant former terrorists and Chicago mobsters,

is on the verge of becoming President of the United States. And apparently

it's considered impolite to say so. "

-- , in the (UK) Spectator.

[Guest guest]

I'm confused. Do you mean you eat WHITE Basmati rice (which is the same

as any other white rice) or BROWN Basmati rice (which is delicious and

fragrant and needs to be soaked the same as other brown rice)?

--- In , " The Deb " <purple66moon@...>

wrote:

>

> I don't see any recipes for soaked Indian Basmati rice in NT and I'm

> not a fan of brown rice, believe it or not. I've used Basmati

instead

> of white bleaced rice for a decade now and my kids love it. What are

> the objections to using it? It's not like we have it all the time,

but

> I'm wondering if there is something I need to know about it??

> Deb in NC

>

[Guest guest]

I understand that white basmati is not " as healthy " as brown basmati rice (or

grass, for that matter), but I think it is still a stretch from the usual

bleached fortified white rice you see on the shelves.  Same with jasmine rice. 

And remember, we only use this rice as a family about once a week at the most. 

If you use butter and meats and vegies, I think we're still talking good

nutrition here...

Deb in NC