"rice" news and stories

Happy National Rice Pudding Day!

Perhaps you're a rice pudding fanatic, but I'll admit this: I tend to associate rice pudding with one of those bland, taste-deficient foods for picky kids. There's something about the tasteless, chewy orbs (rice) floating around what strikes me more as a puddle than pudding that really leaves little thrill for the palate.

However, our Slashfood contributors may have changed my mind. Pictured at left, this sophisticated coconut rice pudding with pineapple piqued my interest with its cardamon scent and pistachio topping. And there's a plethora of astoundingly appetizing flavored puddings that follow suit -- banana and ginger, chocolate with rhubarb coulis, strawberry and lavender -- featured on the Slashfood flickr pool. Bon appétit!

Become a member of the Slashfood Flickr pool to get a shot at having your photos featured in Feast Your Eyes.

It's always tempting to buy rice in bulk at big-box stores and supermarket sales. But how long will it last in your pantry?

When it comes to choosing a bra, the options are usually fairly mundane. Underwire or push-up, lace or cotton? But if you have a green thumb and don't mind getting a little dirty, a Japanese company has come up with another option: rice.

Yes, rice. The food. The "bra" is essentially a set of two recyclable plastic cups that can be filled with dirt and rice seeds, then watered with a hose that doubles as a belt. Why, exactly, this contraption constitutes a bra is unclear, since it's basically two halved buckets pressed against the wearer's chest. Supportive, it isn't.

The company, Triumph, says the bra reflects the popularity of home kits that allow people to grow their own rice. "Over the last year, young Japanese women have taken a tremendous interest in agriculture," Triumph spokeswoman Yoshiko Masuda told the Telegraph. "We wanted other women to experience farming as well," Why the company decided to connect the incongruous areas of agriculture and female breasts, he did not say.

Take it all with a grain of salt. The company has also created a bra that comes with a sushi set, and another equipped with solar panels. It's purely a concept -- not for sale. Want proof of the spoof? The bra comes with gardening gloves.

Jasmine rice is soft, fragrant and – much to the consternation of U.S. rice growers – impossible to grow in the nation's rice-producing regions.

"Maybe you could grow it in South Florida or South Texas," theorizes Steve Linscombe, senior rice breeder and director of Louisiana State University's rice research station. "But even if you could, the yield potential is very low."

Linscombe's spent the better part of two decades developing a homegrown alternative to the phenomenally popular Thai strain of jasmine rice. After a successful test run in 2009, farmers are planning to plant thousands of acres of Jazzman rice this season.

Pork is a must-have food for the holidays. Heck, it's a must-have meat for the home cook. Below are two pork recipes for those with little time to cook, especially families, during the holiday rush.

This Tex-Mex-inspired dish is the easier of the two and adapted from a recipe by the blogger's mother-in-law, Robin Ringland. Since she doesn't have all day to spend in the kitchen, she gets the dish going first thing in the morning. By the time she returns home beat from the corporate grind, it's practically ready to eat.