Transcript

Rice is Nice | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

From Stuff You Should Know · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 47 min · 8,965 words · 214 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Rice is Nice | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW", an episode of Stuff You Should Know published November 27, 2025 (47 min, about 8,965 words). It mentions 165 people, works and ideas, including Stuff You Should Know, Rice, Little Chuck, Exploring with Josh, Rice cultivation.

What this episode is about

The topic explores the significance of rice as a staple food globally, noting that it provides around 20% of the world's caloric intake and is crucial for the livelihoods of approximately 200 million households in developing countries. The discussion also emphasizes that rice is the seed of the rice plant, highlighting its fundamental role in nutrition and agriculture.

Key takeaways

  • Rice is a seed: Plant store-bought rice to grow a mini-farm in your pantry.
  • White rice: Stripped of nutrients, then 'enriched' like a powdered donut, just less tasty.
  • Rice bridges continents: It's served everywhere except Antarctica, where penguins clearly prefer fish.
  • Brown, red, black rice equals nutrition: Sadly, enriched white rice still holds the flavor crown.
  • Rice fuels the world: 3.5 billion live on it, making it Earth's calorie MVP.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 5:00: White Rice, white rice, Rice, Stuff You Should Know
  2. – 10:00: japonica, Sushi Rice, Sticky Rice, indica
  3. – 15:00: Charleston, Carolina Gold, Carolina Gold, Paella
  4. – 20:00: Wild Rice, wild rice, Rice cultivation, Sushi Rice
  5. – 25:00: Methane, Nitrous Oxide, Rice cultivation, Brown Rice
  6. – 30:00: Arsenic, California, Arsenic in rice, China
  7. – 35:00: Bangladesh, Sushi Rice, sushi rice, China
  8. – 40:00: Paella, clam juice, paella, Sushi
  9. – 45:00: Sticky Rice, Horchata, cinnamon, condensed milk
  10. – 47:17: Stuff You Should Know, Stuff You Should Know, iHeart Radio, iHeart Radio

Notable quotes from "Rice is Nice | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW"

  • Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of iHeart Radio.
    about Stuff You Should Know · at
  • All right. Well, one of my favorites, actually, let's just go ahead and say it. My favorite is sushi rice. It's a type of japonica. not surprisingly, it's sticky, but it's not as sticky as.
    about Little Chuck · at
  • I want to talk a little bit about Carolina Gold. It's one of my favorite rices. It's an heirloom long grain.
    about Carolina Gold · at
  • And it's the kind of thing that happened over time from like wild rice growing just in the wild after heavy rains to them saying, Hey, like let's actually try and farm this stuff.
    about Rice cultivation · at
  • Some if you do it right you don't even need to use pesticides in rice production. So growing fish with your rice is like the way to save the planet.
    about Rice fish farming · at
  • Studies consumer reports I think did some testing for arsenic specifically they found white bosmati in California India and Pakistan and sushi rice from the United States maybe not intuitively has the least amount of arsenic.
    about Arsenic in rice · at
  • Yeah, you'd be right. China is the number one rice producing country in Asia followed by India. But that makes sense because they both have a lot of land mass. Bangladesh is a big eyepopper.
    about China · at
  • Stuff you should know is a production of iHeart Radio. For more podcasts iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
    about iHeart Radio · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Little Chuck — Person · Host · 5 mentions
    Co-host; contributes historical, technical, and culinary knowledge about rice; describes varieties, cultivation, and anecdotes.
  • Exploring with Josh — Person · Host · 4 mentions
    Co-host of the podcast; leads parts of the discussion, asks questions, presents facts and anecdotes throughout the episode.
    Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh, and there's Chuck, and Jerry's here, too. And this is a podcast called Stuff You Should Know about rice.
  • Jeffrey – Merrit, Jerry — Person · Guest / In-studio participant · 1 mention · first at
    Present during the episode (introduced at the start); contributes marginally to the banter but is not a primary speaker on the rice topic.
    Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh, and there's Chuck, and Jerry's here, too. And this is a podcast called Stuff You Should Know about rice.
  • Dr. Claw — Person · Referenced expert / contributor (unclear identity) · 1 mention · first at
    Credited by the hosts as having helped with the episode’s research/article, but the transcript provides no identifying details; could be a nickname, handle, or an internal/research credit rather than a public figure.
    That's right. I have to go try because this article thanks to Dr.
  • Kenny Loggins — Person · 1 mention · first at
  • Gwyneth Paltro — Person · 1 mention · first at
    No, weirdly it was a cooking show. I don't remember the chef, but Gwynneth Paltro was standing around there and it was like first thing in the morning and they were both blurry eyed and clearly messed up still from the night before,.
  • Jack Ruby — Person · 1 mention
  • Kim Cattrall — Person · 1 mention
  • Ted — Person · 1 mention
  • Yumi — Person · 1 mention

Books & papers

  • Frontiers and Nutrition — Book · Referenced work · 1 mention · first at
    Cited as a source discussing the risks and benefits of brown rice.
    It was in 2023 edition of Frontiers and Nutrition. And they basically said, I don't know, we should do more study on it.

Companies & orgs

  • iHeart Radio — Company · Production company · 2 mentions · first at
    The production company behind the podcast.
    Stuff you should know is a production of iHeart Radio. For more podcasts iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
  • Anson Mills — Company · Rice producer · 2 mentions · first at
    Mentioned as a company that produces Carolina Gold rice.
    Charleston in the 1600s from Madagascar went away after the Civil War and then came back into fashion like you said in the '90s when Anson Mill started making it again. But…
  • Publix — Company · Retailer · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as a place where Carolina Gold rice can be purchased.
    I'm not sure. in Charleston, certainly you can buy it at just Harris ter.
  • Stuff You Should Know — Company · 6 mentions · first at
    Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of iHeart Radio.
  • Village People — Company · 1 mention · first at
    But you looked a little more like village people police officer.
  • Ocean Spray — Company · 1 mention · first at
    That's deep water. You have to wear waiters to harvest cranberries. As far as the commercials for ocean spray that I've seen say. Yeah.
  • Consumer Reports — Company · 1 mention · first at
    If you're seeking out safer rice you know there are people have done studies consumer reports I think did some testing for arsenic specifically they found white bosmati in California India and Pakistan and sushi rice from the United States.
  • Minute Rice — Company · 1 mention · first at
    It's probably what's the stuff in the bag? The minute rice or whatever.
  • Uncle Ben's — Company · 1 mention · first at
    Yeah, like Uncle Ben's or something.
  • Seinfeld — Company · 1 mention · first at
    That was from Seinfeld when George played Trivial Pursuit with the bubble boy. That's right. That's right. The moops.
  • stuffodcast@iheartradio.com — Company · 1 mention · first at
    Listened to stuff you should know or whatever you want to say, you can send it in an email to stuffodcast@ iheartradio.com.
  • Frontiers in Nutrition — Company · 1 mention
  • Harris Teeter — Company · 1 mention
  • Tottori University — Company · 1 mention

Products & tech

  • Carolina Gold — Product · Referenced product · 3 mentions · first at
    An heirloom long grain Japonica rice mentioned as a favorite by the host, with historical significance in the US.
  • Carolina Gold — Product · Mentioned product · 3 mentions · first at
    An heirloom rice variety discussed for its historical and culinary significance.
    Oh, man. Yourself. Yeah, it's great. I always when I go to Charleston, I'll pick up a bag of the local stuff.
  • Sushi Rice — Product · Referenced product · 7 mentions · first at
    A type of Japonica rice used in sushi, discussed for its stickiness and preparation methods.
    It. My favorite is sushi rice. It's a type of japonica. not surprisingly, it's sticky, but it's not as sticky as another kind of rice called sticky rice or glutenous rice. and…
  • Paella — Product · Referenced product · 4 mentions · first at
    A Spanish dish discussed for its specific rice requirements and cooking methods.
    Similarly, paella is a dish that you have to babysit too. and that uses a couple of specific kinds of rice. Bomba which means bomb because it expands into little bombs the grains of rice do.
  • Brown Rice — Product · Key argument · 5 mentions · first at
    Compared to white rice for its nutritional benefits and arsenic content.
    Yeah. the reason why is because the brand and the germ are the thing that have all the nutrients. So if you're eating white rice, it's basically stripped of any nutritional value whatsoever. So much so that a lot of.
  • White Rice — Product · Key argument · 5 mentions · first at
    Discussed as a less nutritious but more commonly consumed rice variety.
    The brand and the germ are the thing that have all the nutrients. So if you're eating white rice, it's basically stripped of any nutritional value whatsoever. So much so that a…
  • Sticky Rice — Product · Key discussion topic · 4 mentions · first at
    Discussed as a very sticky type of rice used in specific dishes.
    Naturally sticky because it's got so much amalopectin starch in it that it actually the grains actually kind of crumble together and it almost turns into like a porridge like…
  • Sushi — Product · Case study · 2 mentions · first at
    Discussed as a type of rice used in Japanese cuisine.
    And, I guess somebody said there's a better way to do this. And that's where sushi came from. But you can still get that original version called nar sushi.
  • Basmati — Product · Referenced product · 1 mention · first at
    A long grain indica rice popular in South Asian cuisine.
    Yeah. we can kind of quickly go through this. Basmati is one of my faves. It's a long grain indica rice.
  • Risotto — Product · Referenced product · 1 mention · first at
    An Italian dish discussed for its specific rice requirements and cooking methods.
    Risoto, they're both medium grain. delicious. I don't I've made risoto before, but it's really tough to perfect.
  • Anson Mills rice — Product · Mentioned product · 1 mention · first at
    Specific rice product produced by Anson Mills.
    Charleston in the 1600s from Madagascar went away after the Civil War and then came back into fashion like you said in the '90s when Anson Mill started making it again. But…
  • Wild Rice — Product · Referenced product · 2 mentions · first at
    A North American grass seed mentioned as a healthier alternative to brown rice.
    Yeah. And then I think it's worth mentioning wild rice. it's not technically rice because it doesn't come from a rice plant. Comes from a different type of grass that's native to North America.
  • Horchata — Product · Referenced product · 2 mentions · first at
    A rice-based drink mentioned for its preparation and flavor.
    Yep. And we can't not mention horchata real quick. Okay.
  • Basmati Rice — Product · Case study · 1 mention · first at
    Highlighted as a long-grain rice variety popular in South Asian cuisine.
    South Asian cuisine a lot of time will have basmati or maybe jasmine. Also a long grain indacica rice. It's a little stickier than basmati and a little more floral.
  • Jasmine — Product · Referenced product · 1 mention · first at
    A long grain indica rice with a floral scent, mentioned alongside basmati.
    South Asian cuisine a lot of time will have basmati or maybe jasmine. Also a long grain indacica rice. It's a little stickier than basmati and a little more floral.
  • Jasmine Rice — Product · Case study · 1 mention · first at
    Discussed as a fragrant rice variety popular in South Asian cuisine.
    Did you know? I'd always thought like they added something to give jasmine rice that smell. Apparently that's natural to the rice. Did you know that?
  • Mochi — Product · Referenced product · 1 mention · first at
    A Japanese rice cake mentioned for its traditional and modern variations.
    Mochi in the US, it's probably a little different from Japan because it's not always a sweet thing there. But in the US, it's usually wrapped around ice cream as most things are.
  • Cal Rose — Product · Referenced product · 1 mention · first at
    A type of rice mentioned for its use in homemade sushi.
    And I'll quickly shout out Cal Rose because when I used to roll my own sushi, that's what I would use even though it's not exactly sushi rice. I was told by a chef like it that it does pretty good.
  • sushi rice — Product · 7 mentions · first at
    All right. Well, one of my favorites, actually, let's just go ahead and say it. My favorite is sushi rice. It's a type of japonica. not surprisingly, it's sticky, but it's not…
  • brown rice — Product · 5 mentions · first at
    If you look sort of at the top of the dividing point, you're probably going to go white rice or brown rice.
  • white rice — Product · 5 mentions · first at
    If you look sort of at the top of the dividing point, you're probably going to go white rice or brown rice.
  • sticky rice — Product · 4 mentions · first at
    Type of japonica. not surprisingly, it's sticky, but it's not as sticky as another kind of rice called sticky rice or glutenous rice. and they're not to be confused, even…
  • Carolina Gold — Product · 3 mentions · first at
    I want to talk a little bit about Carolina Gold. It's one of my favorite rices. It's an heirloom long grain.
  • cinnamon — Product · 3 mentions · first at
    Well. That's when you cook the rice with the milk and sugar and usually there's like vanilla or cinnamon or something like that in there.
  • black rice — Product · 2 mentions · first at
    Rice is rice with the brand and the germ removed. brown rice and also red and black rice still has the brand and the germ and it's much better for you than white rice. I just cannot stomach it.
  • wild rice — Product · 2 mentions · first at
    Yeah. And then I think it's worth mentioning wild rice. it's not technically rice because it doesn't come from a rice plant. Comes from a different type of grass that's native to North America.
  • clam juice — Product · 2 mentions · first at
    It's got that clam juice. That's where a lot of that seafoody flavor comes from. And depending on what kind of seafood you want in there, could be clams, could be shrimp, could be.
  • vanilla — Product · 2 mentions · first at
    Well. That's when you cook the rice with the milk and sugar and usually there's like vanilla or cinnamon or something like that in there.
  • condensed milk — Product · 2 mentions · first at
    I would eat just about anything with condensed milk.
  • Basmati — Product · 1 mention · first at
    Yeah. we can kind of quickly go through this. Basmati is one of my faves. It's a long grain indica rice.
  • jasmine rice — Product · 1 mention · first at
    Did you know? I'd always thought like they added something to give jasmine rice that smell. Apparently that's natural to the rice. Did you know that?
  • Cal Rose — Product · 1 mention · first at
    And I'll quickly shout out Cal Rose because when I used to roll my own sushi, that's what I would use even though it's not exactly sushi rice. I was told by a chef like it that it does pretty good.
  • hand sickles — Product · 1 mention · first at
    There's a lot of ways to harvest it. One of the traditional ways is to just use hand sickles and cut the probably the top half of the plant off. after that you dry the rice and…
  • rice husks — Product · 1 mention · first at
    Those are rice husks. I guess they put them in for drainage maybe. I don't know why else they would.
  • Trivial Pursuit — Product · 1 mention · first at
    That was from Seinfeld when George played Trivial Pursuit with the bubble boy. That's right. That's right. The moops.
  • cast iron skillets — Product · 1 mention · first at
    Flat bottom round pan. if you don't have one, like I've cooked it in just cast iron skillets.
  • saffron — Product · 1 mention · first at
    Clams, could be shrimp, could be scallops, could be all that stuff. some saffron, some like tomatoes that stew up nicely.
  • Clamato — Product · 1 mention · first at
    Reminded me? Didn't you used to make or maybe still do make bloody maryries with clamato?
  • ube condensed milk — Product · 1 mention · first at
    Oh, I have a little tip for you, Chuck. Yumi found this stuff. It's ube condensed milk.
  • mochi ice cream — Product · 1 mention · first at
    Yeah. And you can buy like the little mochi ice cream balls or whatever here.

Concepts & topics

  • Rice — Concept · Core topic · 2 mentions · first at
    Primary subject of the episode; the hosts discuss rice's biology, varieties, cultivation, environmental impacts, nutrition, toxins, and culinary uses.
    Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh, and there's Chuck, and Jerry's here, too. And this is a podcast called Stuff You Should Know about rice.
  • Rice cultivation — Concept · Core topic · 3 mentions · first at
    Detailed discussion on how rice is grown globally.
  • Arsenic in rice — Concept · Core topic · 1 mention · first at
    Discussed as a significant health concern related to rice consumption.
  • Rice fish farming — Concept · Innovative method · 1 mention · first at
    Presented as a sustainable method to reduce methane emissions in rice cultivation.
  • Arsenic — Concept · Key argument · 6 mentions · first at
    Discussed as a toxin found in rice, particularly in the bran and germ.
    The big downer about the whole thing is that arsenic is most present in the germ and the bran. So, the type of rice that's most beneficial for you health-wise, brown rice, is also the ones that have the most arsenic.
  • Methane — Concept · Key argument · 4 mentions · first at
    Mentioned as a greenhouse gas emitted from rice paddies.
    And stuff as being big methane contributors, but when you have a big flooded rice field, you're also going to have a lot of microbes in there feeding off of decaying plant…
  • Nitrous Oxide — Concept · Key argument · 3 mentions · first at
    Mentioned as a greenhouse gas emitted from dried rice paddies.
    That's exactly what happens with rice cultivation. When you dry out that patty, it exposes the soil and a bunch of nitrous oxide, which is another greenhouse gas gets emitted.…
  • japonica — Concept · 5 mentions · first at
    I think the indica is more likely to be long grain, the japonica is more likely to be short. Sure.
  • paella — Concept · 4 mentions · first at
    Similarly, paella is a dish that you have to babysit too. and that uses a couple of specific kinds of rice. Bomba which means bomb because it expands into little bombs the grains of rice do.
  • indica — Concept · 3 mentions · first at
    I think the indica is more likely to be long grain, the japonica is more likely to be short. Sure.
  • irrigation — Concept · 2 mentions · first at
    Grows, but it doesn't actually need a flooded field to grow. It needs a lot of irrigation, a lot of rainfall, but it can also be grown on like mountain sides, terrace mountain sides. That's called upland farming.
  • rice is a seed — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Here's how we know that rice is a seed. Aside from, you don't have to be a botist for this. You can go to the store and buy rice and plant it and it will grow a rice plant. So, it's the seed,.
  • Cereal — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    And buy rice and plant it and it will grow a rice plant. So, it's the seed, but it's classified as a cereal, which is a seed from a grass plant. and so rice is a seed. Everybody calm down.
  • English colonists — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    In the '90s when Anson Mill started making it again. But this was a rice where English colonists you know they came here they hadn't grown rice very significantly so they like didn't really know what they were doing. Mhm.
  • enslaved Africans — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    But enslaved Africans arrived, they had that experience on how to grow rice, which is was it's a tricky crop and we'll get to all that later. they had you know some lowland wetland.
  • forbidden rice — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Apparently it was called forbidden rice in ancient China because only royalty could eat it.
  • upland farming — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Can also be grown on like mountain sides, terrace mountain sides. That's called upland farming.
  • rough rice — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Top half of the plant off. after that you dry the rice and what you have is called rough rice and that still has the hole on it. It's got what the protective husk which you'll sometimes see if you buy a plant there's these little holes.
  • milling process — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Well, another you got to go through another round of work basically and called the milling process. That's going to remove the bran. sometimes they even if you see rice that…
  • glucose — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Just super pristine and shiny that might have been polished in a factory somewhere with glucose.
  • Salt and Sea episode — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Yeah. If you listen to our Salt and Sea episode, that should be an eyepopping number to you.
  • greenhouse gases — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    So water use is a thing. Land use is another thing too. but greenhouse gases seem to be probably the biggest problem with rice production.
  • rice-fish farming — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Care of the nitrous oxide, the methane goes up. But did you see that thing about rice fish farming?
  • seawater rice — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    I did mention seawater rice there.
  • cadmium — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    The toxins and I think specifically arsenic is one of the I think like lead and cadmium also but arsenic seems to be the major offender.
  • industrial metals — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Yeah. it's if your soil is more likely to be contaminated by industrial metals, that rice is going to suck it up. And apparently California's soil is less contaminated by industrial metals than some other states. So from what I.
  • cardio issues — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Rice every day which a lot of people do you can and arsenic is associated with multiple kinds of cancer diabetes cardio issues and obesity. so you don't really want a lot of arsenic. So that is an issue with rice everybody let's face it.
  • izakaya — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    That's why when you go to a izakaya in America, you'll frequently see somebody with a mouthful of rice chaining USA.
  • jalof rice — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Even though that's fine, too. but I've had quite a few of these. I have had jalof rice. Oh yeah.
  • biryani — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    I am not more I'm more of a curry guy so I don't get biryani when I go to Indian restaurants because it's a little drier.
  • red curry — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    A rice dish. It's got rice spices, some vegetables, usually some kind of meat in there. yeah, it's good. You're a red curry guy. Green.
  • butter chicken — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Red. Green maybe if I'm at a Thai place, but I'm a tikka masala and butter chicken person.
  • tikka masala — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Red. Green maybe if I'm at a Thai place, but I'm a tikka masala and butter chicken person.
  • Bloody Caesar — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    And that's a Canadian thing. And I can't remember what they call a bloody Caesar.
  • rice pudding — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    We should mention a few rice desserts because, a really nice rice pudding to me is one of the more delicious things you can eat.
  • bread pudding — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Yeah, I'm more of a bread pudding guy, but yeah, I'll eat rice pudding as well. That's when you cook the rice with the milk and sugar and usually there's like vanilla or cinnamon or something.
  • mango sticky rice — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    There's also mango sticky rice which uses that sticky glutenous rice which by the way it doesn't have gluten. It's just glutenous meaning sticky starchy.
  • Polish rice cake — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Have you heard of Polish rice cake or Polish rice cake? I'm not sure.
  • rabbit in the moon — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Paste inside. That's a traditional mochi there, too. But apparently it's it references the rabbit in the moon. In Japan, it's a rabbit in the moon rather than a man in the moon, but he's making mochi up there.
  • man in the moon — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    References the rabbit in the moon. In Japan, it's a rabbit in the moon rather than a man in the moon, but he's making mochi up there.

Places & events

  • China — Place · Setting · 2 mentions · first at
    Mentioned as the origin of rice domestication and a major producer and consumer of rice.
  • California — Place · Production location · 4 mentions · first at
    Mentioned as a significant rice-producing state in the U.S.
    That said though, rice production still requires less water than any kind of meat production. any kind of nut production from what I understand and a lot of vegetables still use more water.
  • Bangladesh — Place · High rice consumption · 3 mentions · first at
    Highlighted as a country with high rice consumption and production.
    Asia followed by India. But that makes sense because they both have a lot of land mass. Bangladesh is a big eyepopper because it's not very big but it's the third highest producing rice country in the world.
  • Charleston — Place · Historical context · 3 mentions · first at
    Mentioned in the context of Carolina Gold rice history.
    Oh, man. Yourself. Yeah, it's great. I always when I go to Charleston, I'll pick up a bag of the local stuff.
  • Yangti River Basin — Place · Historical context · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as the origin of rice cultivation.
    All right. rice cultivation, like we mentioned earlier, started in China, specifically the, Yangti River Basin. could have been like as much as 14,000 years ago. Definitely at least.
  • Mississippi — Place · Setting · 1 mention · first at
    Listed as one of the states producing almost all the rice in the US.
    Yeah. I mentioned those states. California Louisiana Texas Mississippi, Missouri, and Arkansas produce the almost all the rice in the US, which is about 20 billion pounds a…
  • India — Place · Referenced location · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as a major rice-producing and consuming country.
    Yeah. I think it made it to South Asia, that is India, by I think 8,300 years ago. and it made it to Southeast Asia about 4,400 years ago. and the whole idea of growing rice, like.
  • North Carolina — Place · Referenced location · 2 mentions · first at
    Mentioned as the origin of Carolina Gold rice.
    Know, it comes from the Carolinas, the lowlands of South Carolina and North Carolina. I think it was the first commercial rice in the United States and genetically goes back to…
  • Arkansas — Place · Referenced location · 2 mentions · first at
    Mentioned as a state with higher arsenic levels in rice.
    If you get rice from Arkansas, Louisiana, or Texas, it's going to have higher levels of arsenic.
  • Texas — Place · Setting · 2 mentions · first at
    Mentioned as a rice-producing state with higher arsenic levels.
    If you get rice from Arkansas, Louisiana, or Texas, it's going to have higher levels of arsenic.
  • Louisiana — Place · Referenced location · 2 mentions · first at
    Mentioned as a state with higher arsenic levels in rice.
    If you get rice from Arkansas, Louisiana, or Texas, it's going to have higher levels of arsenic.
  • Vietnam — Place · Referenced location · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned in the context of rice cultivation videos.
    Yeah, I was watching some messmerizing videos on growing rice. One of them was in Vietnam. I couldn't tell where the other one was. but it was really interesting. I, for some reason, I find a rice patty fascinating.
  • Missouri — Place · Setting · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as one of the states producing rice in the US.
    Yeah. I mentioned those states. California Louisiana Texas Mississippi, Missouri, and Arkansas produce the almost all the rice in the US, which is about 20 billion pounds a…
  • South Asia — Place · 2 mentions · first at
    Carolina. I think it was the first commercial rice in the United States and genetically goes back to South Asia although the seeds reportedly arrived to Charleston in the 1600s…
  • Mexico City — Place · 2 mentions · first at
    Yeah. I had a I went to a I had a horchata flight in Mexico City one time on a food tour.
  • Antarctic — Place · 1 mention · first at
    It's grown on every continent except Antarctica.
  • Madagascar — Place · 1 mention · first at
    Genetically goes back to South Asia although the seeds reportedly arrived to Charleston in the 1600s from Madagascar went away after the Civil War and then came back into…
  • West Africa — Place · 1 mention · first at
    And we'll get to all that later. they had you know some lowland wetland cultivation areas in West Africa. So they came with that knowledge and you know that's how it became a…
  • Southeast Asia — Place · 1 mention · first at
    Yeah. I think it made it to South Asia, that is India, by I think 8,300 years ago. and it made it to Southeast Asia about 4,400 years ago. and the whole idea of growing rice…
  • Laos — Place · 1 mention
  • Tori — Place · 1 mention
  • Yangtze River Basin — Place · 1 mention

Media & podcasts

  • Stuff You Should Know — Media · Broadcast · 6 mentions · first at
    The podcast in which this episode appears; the production framework and host personas drive the episode structure and content.
  • Seinfeld — Media · Cultural reference · 1 mention · first at
    Referenced in a humorous context about rice dishes.
    That was from Seinfeld when George played Trivial Pursuit with the bubble boy. That's right. That's right. The moops.

Sponsors

  • iHeart Radio — Sponsor · Sponsor / Producer · 2 mentions · first at
    Identified as the production company and sponsor of the podcast; mentioned in opening/closing and as a place to find other podcasts.

Full transcript with timestamps

Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of iHeart Radio. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh, and there's Chuck, and Jerry's here, too. And this is a podcast called Stuff You Should Know about rice.

That's right. Uh, can I just throw out a couple of stats real quick at at the onset?

I would love that. Uh because this is about rice, the food. Uh just in case it was confusing at all.

What other kind of rice is there? I don't know. I just wondered. I mean, for all I know, it's some weird new sex term.

Oh, that's reche. Okay. Yeah, you've clearly only seen it written before, I guess. So, uh all right. So, rice um generally is looked at as the most eaten um food in the world. Uh, I think some people might have wheat uh just ahead of it, but it's either one or number two. It's grown on every continent except Antarctica.

About three and a half billion people. It's a staple food accounting for 20% of the calories consumed all over the world is rice, which is a staggering number. And uh in Asian countries, uh 50% of the calories. That's amazing. 50% is rice.

Yeah, it is. um until you realize that uh pork crackklins make up another 20% of all the calories consumed worldwide.

Yum. Um there's also like something that's worth mentioning too that um rice production supports 200 million households in developing countries. That's how they make their living.

Yeah. So to say that rice is an important crop here on planet Earth is kind of an understatement.

Uh yeah. Okay, good. I'm glad you agree. There's one thing I want to cover before we move on because it bothered me so hopefully it will bother somebody else and that's why I want to satisfy that itch.

Okay. I wondered what rice is when we're eating rice. What is it? It's a seed. The rice is the seed of the rice plant. Did you know that?

Uh yeah. Oh, okay. Well, what if that was just my new persona? How obnoxious is that? Um, here's how we know that rice is a seed. Aside from, you don't have to be a botist for this. You can go to the store and buy rice and plant it and it will grow a rice plant. So, it's the seed, but it's classified as a cereal, which is a seed from a grass plant. Um, and so rice is a seed. Everybody calm down.

That's right. Uh, and I'm clearly joking, by the way. I can't imagine how many people I turned off with the new persona.

I liked it. Oh, I figured people would be like, "Is that what Chuck shaped his beard for Halloween? Is that new Chuck? I don't like it."

Oh, yeah. That's right. You did. I think you should have grown the mustache back real quick after Halloween.

Buddy, if I could, I would. I miss that beard so much already. Are you growing it back?

I I mean, I told Ruby, Ruby hated it, of course. But I said, "Ruby, it's already growing back. I've already started. The second I finished shaving it, I started growing it back."

Nice. You're like, I got to hurry up and squeeze Halloween in. But the stash looked pretty good though, right?

It did. I liked it a lot. You looked like a construction worker slashpornst star yacht rock musician all rolled into one.

Yeah. Like Kenny Loggins, I guess. Yeah. Any anytime you have a stash like that, you're 20% more police officer, too.

Oh, don't forget that. Yeah. Yeah. But you looked a little more like village people police officer.

Hey, I'll take that any day. Okay. That just sounded like Kim Catrell. You should have been like, "Oh, I'll take that any day.

All right, back to rice because this is the bulky one. We can't goof around. Uh, we're going to break down types of rice. Um, if you look sort of at the top of the dividing point, you're probably going to go white rice or brown rice. Um, I really don't care for brown rice. I'm not yucking yum. I I can't stand the taste.

It's an acquired taste. It's much better for you. Um, they are not uh different varieties, but white rice is rice with the brand and the germ removed. uh brown rice and uh also red and black rice still has the brand and the germ and it's much much much better for you than white rice. I just cannot stomach it.

Yeah. Um the reason why uh is because the brand and the germ are the thing that have all the nutrients. So if you're eating white rice, it's basically stripped of any nutritional value whatsoever. So much so that a lot of rice is actually fortified. They mix the vitamins and minerals that they strip out

um back in in different ways that's enriched, right? Yeah. Some Let's talk about that real quick. Okay. Did you see the different ways that you can enrich white rice?

I mean, uh can't they just kind of like powder coat it? Sure. Powder coating is one, but they don't powder coat all of it. They they pick out select grains of rice, powder coat them, and then mix them back in with unpowdercoated rice. Oh, okay.

At a ratio of about 1 to 100. What? Really? And that provides enough uh good stuff?

I guess. So, do you have any other guesses of how you could enrich rice? I'm trying to think how I would do it. Uh, no. I have no other guesses.

You You could coat it in layers. Base coat, nutrient coat, protective top coat. Okay.

And then the last one is you can extrude it. So, you take rice flour and you actually make fake rice grains.

Ah. and you've mixed the rice powder with the nutrient powder and you mix those in with real rice or regular rice. That's how you do it. I don't know why, but I could not not find out how you would enrich rice. It just got me. So, I had to go figure it out and I wanted to share that just like sharing the fact that rice is seed.

That's right. I love it. Um, most of the rice that we, you know, kind of buy in stores and know about is, uh, a descendant from the, uh, o r y za, capital o, I, I guess, the oriza sativa.

Um, that was domesticated in China. Um, you know, somewhere between 8,200 and 13,000 years ago. Uh, there are two main subspecies uh indacica uh indicaponica. Uh, I think the indica is more likely to be long grain, the japonica is more likely to be short. Sure.

Even though there are exceptions and um the starch levels are different in the two right?

Yeah. I think um japonica has more starch. Um a certain kind called amalopectin which is water soluble so it it makes the rice sticky. Um, indacica is um chalk full of amalos which is a starch but it keeps the rice separate or the rice doesn't stick together. It doesn't actually keep it separate. And so knowing that and knowing long grain and short grain, you can kind of start to guess what different varieties of rice belong to which um family.

Yeah, for sure. Uh we don't want to leave out the um orza glabbera. That's African rice and that is is grown in Africa still.

Um it is not as popular as the the Asian or variety but uh they have tried to mix the two because there are good and bad points for both. Um I think the the African variety is a little hardier and more resistant to disease and pests and climate issues which is great. Um I think water depth and soil it just seems like a better allound sort of grower.

Um but the yields aren't as great and it's harder to mill without breaking. So maybe um crossbreeding these two, you could come up with like a super rice.

Yeah. Uh I don't know what you'd call it. Maybe Glabria Japonica. Poof. Yeah, that sounds great.

Let's talk some variety, shall we? Yeah. Uh we can kind of quickly go through this. Basmati is one of my faves. It's a long grain indica rice.

Um South Asian cuisine a lot of time will have basmati or maybe jasmine. Also a long grain indacica rice. It's a little stickier than basmati and a little more floral.

Did you know? I'd always thought like they added something to give jasmine rice that smell. Apparently that's natural to the rice. Did you know that?

Uh I kind of figured that because I just didn't think they would add a scent to a rice.

I could see that. I could see somebody adding a scent. Especially the Thai. They love like orchids and stuff like that. They love things that are lovely. And so adding a lovely scent to rice makes sense.

Yeah. Two of my favorite rices right off the bat. All right. Well, one of my favorites, actually, let's just go ahead and say it. My favorite is sushi rice. It's a type of japonica. Um, not surprisingly, it's sticky, but it's not as sticky as another kind of rice called sticky rice or glutenous rice. Uh, and they're not to be confused, even though they're both pretty sticky. Uh glutenous rice is naturally sticky because it's got so much um amalopectin starch in it

that it actually the grains actually kind of crumble together and it almost turns into like a porridge like when you make a batch of uh sticky rice. It's almost like a just a big clump that sticks to your fingers. It's all over the place. You can use it to hang wallpaper.

Um sushi rice is sticky. It'll stick together. But if you ever really look at sushi, um, like a piece of the you can see the individual grains of rice.

Yeah. But it still sticks together. And the reason why it really sticks together is because of the treatment it gets um with a little bit of vinegar, salt, and sugar concoction that's mixed in with the rice after it cooks.

That's right. Maybe a manny petty. Um, I don't get that one. You know, the treatment. Oh,

okay. Do you ever get those? Uh, no. Chuck, treat yourself at least to a pedicure. You will never not get one again.

Uh, we'll talk off air. Okay. But I'm just saying you can't surprise those people or offend them. Somebody who's a professional pedicurist, it doesn't matter what your feet look like, they will do it and they will not crack a smile.

It It's not a hammer toe issue. Oh, okay. Um, can we move on to risoto? Because if you love risoto, you're probably looking at one of a couple of things. Both japonica versions. Uh either arboreio or carnoli rice.

Mhm. Um risoto, they're both medium grain. Um delicious. I don't um I've made risoto before, but it's really tough to perfect.

Yeah. But one of my favorite dishes if it's done right. I made it once or twice too and it actually turned out both times, but it is very time consuming because you add like the broth a little bit at a time and you basically have to stir until that the the rice absorbs the broth and over and over and over again. But when it turns out it is delicious. It's just much easier to order out though.

Yeah, it's a dish you got to babysit. You know, you can't walk away. Similarly, paella is a dish that you have to babysit too. Uh and that uses a couple of specific kinds of rice. Bomba um which means bomb because it expands into little bombs the grains of rice do when um they encounter water. And calispara and they're both short grain rices um which is strange. They should be long grain because of the the dish kind of calls for it. But you do not want to use other short grain rices as substitutes and paella because they're not the actually indica type rices like those other two are and they'll just cook different and you'll basically ruin your paella. And who wants ruined paella?

Now I used to make paella and I never babysat it. Was I doing it wrong? Oh yeah. I thought like you typically made it outdoors and you basically had to hang around it while it was cooking.

I always just baked it in the oven in the in the proper pan. Maybe that was just a cooking show I saw once and they were doing that to seem cool.

It was like one of those cooking challenges that like they give them a bunch of restrictions.

No, weirdly it was a cooking show. I don't remember the chef, but Gwynneth Paltro was standing around there and it was like first thing in the morning and they were both blurry eyed and clearly messed up still from the night before, but they decided to film that that episode of the cooking show that day.

I'm probably not doing it in the traditional style or something, but it always turned out pretty good.

Good. Uh I want to talk a little bit about Carolina Gold. It's one of my favorite rices. It's an heirloom long grain.

Oh, you've had it? Japonica. You haven't had it? No, I've never had it. Oh, man. Yourself. Yeah,

it's great. I always when I go to Charleston, I'll pick up a bag of the local stuff.

Well, pick up two. I will, big boy. Comes in a cool looking little soft bag, too. You know,

I saw Oh, like a kind of a little burlap bag. Yeah, like a cloth thing. I saw [clears throat] there's a company called Anson Mills um that they started making it in the 1990s, I guess, at least for national sale. And their their prices aren't terribly bad. I didn't get to the shipping stage. Um, that probably jacks the price up, but it was like eight bucks for a pound of this. Apparently the best rice you'll ever have.

I mean, I think you can just buy it in Publix here, can't you? I I I've never looked for it. Maybe I will.

I'm not sure. I mean, in Charleston, certainly you can buy it at just Harris ter. And that's uh the deal. It was um you know, it comes from the Carolinas, the lowlands of of South Carolina and North Carolina. Uh I think it was the first commercial rice in the United States and uh genetically goes back to South Asia although the seeds reportedly arrived to Charleston in the 1600s from Madagascar went away after the Civil War and then uh came back into fashion like you said in the '90s when Anson Mill started making it again. But this was a rice where English colonists you know they came here they hadn't grown rice very significantly so they like didn't really know what they were doing. Mhm.

Um but uh enslaved Africans arrived, they had that experience on how to grow rice, which is was it's a tricky crop and we'll get to all that later. Um they had you know some lowland wetland cultivation areas in West Africa. So they came with that knowledge and um you know that's how it became a thing in South Carolina like how to how to cultivate it and grow it there.

Yep. Then now we have Carolina Gold. That's right. I have to go try because this this um article uh thanks to Dr. Claw for helping us with this too. Uh made me very hungry for rice.

How many of these others do you want to go over? I don't know that there's much to to go over. There's black rice, which apparently has anthrocyanins, the same pigment in blueberries. So, it's high in antioxidants.

Yeah. Uh apparently it was called forbidden rice in ancient China because only royalty could eat it.

And that's black rice, I think. Right. Yeah. Black rice. Yeah. And then I think it's worth mentioning wild rice. Um, it's not technically rice because it doesn't come from a rice plant. Comes from a different type of grass that's native to North America.

But from what I see, it's actually even healthier than a um than brown rice. Okay.

And it's not bad. I love it. Do you like it? Uh, and you know, I I'll quickly shout out Cal Rose because when I used to roll my own sushi, uh, that's what I would use even though it's

um not exactly sushi rice. I was told by a chef like it that it does pretty good.

Okay, that's a nice little tip from Chuck's Kitchen. Uh, all right. Well, let's take a break then. Uh, it's a good start and we'll come back and talk about that cultivation I spoke of right after this. [bell]

All right. Uh, rice cultivation, like we mentioned earlier, started in China, specifically the, uh, Yangti River Basin. Uh, could have been like as much as 14,000 years ago. Definitely at least 9 or 10,000 years ago. Mhm.

And it's the kind of thing that happened over time from like wild rice growing just in the wild after heavy rains to them saying, "Hey, like let's actually try and farm this stuff."

And you know, valleys would flood and they would say, "Hey, this is um this is how you grow rice." And in water flooded patties. I imagine it was quite a revelation.

Yeah. Um I think it made it to South Asia, that is India, by I think 8,300 years ago. and it made it to Southeast Asia about 4,400 years ago. Um, and the the whole idea of growing rice, like anybody who ever thinks about growing rice, you know, when you're sitting around thinking about growing rice,

Yeah. you think of it in in patties, like you're talking about, like little flooded fields, usually surrounded by slightly raised um dikes or walkways or buns.

Yeah. Uh, and that is a way that rice grows, but it it doesn't actually need a flooded field to grow. It needs a lot of irrigation, a lot of rainfall, but it can also be grown on like mountain sides, terrace mountain sides. That's called upland farming.

But low, I didn't either. Um, usually that's for subsistence. Uh, the the upland stuff because it's so much more productive using the lowland method, which is using flooded patties. Um but it only needs flooding a couple of times during um growing the growing season and they actually drain the patty for harvesting.

Yeah. But a lot of a lot of um people who cultivate rice just keep it flooded the whole time because it's a lot easier to not put water in and out when you need it.

Yeah, for sure. Um as far as uh you know farming it um you can you can be old school, it can be done by hand. Obviously, they have machinery that can do that stuff now in a lot of places.

Uh the rice plants, you can like a lot of plants and vegetables and things like that and herbs. You can start them out in like a nursery bed, transfer them over to a patty or it could be a big mechanized system of of seed drilling or you can drop rice, you can air drop it into a flooded field and it doesn't take that long, a few months, about 120 days. Uh, and you know, different varieties, it depends on like the depth of water for the different varieties and stuff like that. Uh, and they will drain as needed, but just a few months to to grow a successful rice yield.

Yeah, I was watching some messmerizing videos on growing rice. One of them was in Vietnam. I couldn't tell where the other one was. Um, but it was really interesting. I, for some reason, I find a rice patty fascinating.

Oh, same. It's just way way more interesting than your typical crop field. Yeah, agreed. Water.

Yeah. And and I thought until yesterday that was the only way to do it. No, that's wrong.

Cranberries, didn't it? Cranberries that grow in water. Yeah. And like a bog. That's deep water. You have to wear waiters to harvest cranberries. As far as the commercials for ocean spray that I've seen say.

Yeah. So, after you harvest the rice, uh there's a lot of ways to harvest it. One of the traditional ways is to just use hand sickles and cut the probably the top half of the plant off. Um after that you dry the rice and what you have is called rough rice and that still has the hole on it. It's got what the protective husk which you'll sometimes see if you buy a plant there's these little holes. Those are rice husks. I I guess they put them in for drainage maybe. I don't know why else they would.

Huh. But when you remove just the husk and leave the rest of the rice alone, um kind like shucking an ear of corn, but really tiny. That's essentially the rice husk. Um once you take the husk off, you got brown rice.

Yeah. Little tiny bits of cardboard ready for eating. I mean, I I'm with you. It It takes a lot for me to make myself make brown rice when the I have the option of making sushi rice.

Yeah. But it is so much better for you. It's crazy. It really is. But I I don't I don't know if either of us eat enough rice to really matter. I don't know.

No, I mean any health problems I have are not from eating white rice, right? You know.

Yeah. But what about white rice? How do you get white rice from brown rice? Because that's where you get it from.

Well, another you got to go through another round of work basically and uh called the milling process. That's going to remove the bran. Um, sometimes they even if you see rice that looks like just super pristine and shiny that might have been polished in a factory somewhere with glucose.

Isn't that weird? Uh, and then we talked about, you know, some rice even goes through the enriching process.

Would you like to go over those three ways again? Oh, that's all right. Okay. Uh, but, you know, we're going to talk a little bit about the downside of rice because anytime you're talking about like these major crops or farm situations, uh, it's not always the greatest for the environment and it takes a lot of water to grow rice. Um, like you said, if it's not done in a patty, just tons and tons of irrigation. Um, which makes it surprising that California, which suffers a lot of drought, um, has about half a million acres of rice.

Yeah. If you listen to our Salt and Sea episode, that should be an eyepopping number to you.

Yeah. Um, that said though, rice production still requires less water than any kind of meat production. um any kind of nut production from what I understand and a lot of vegetables still use more water than rice cultivation I guess worldwide. So water use is a thing. Land use is another thing too. Um but greenhouse gases seem to be probably the biggest problem with rice production.

Yeah, this kind of is something that I would not have considered. Again, I was just sort of naive to that. I I usually think of like factory farming of animals and stuff as being big methane contributors, but uh when you have a big flooded rice field, uh you're also going to have a lot of microbes in there feeding off of decaying plant matter, and that's going to create a lot of methane. Um I didn't realize it was that big of a problem, but apparently it is.

It must be because so much rice is cultivated worldwide that that all combined makes it a problem.

Yeah. Yeah. Um, one of the things you can do to reduce methane emissions is to drain the patties when the rice is at a growing stage where it doesn't need to be flooded and then when it needs it again um you can reintroduce the water and then you dry it again for harvesting. The problem is this. And I love stuff like this even though it's terrible. I love it when you solve one problem and it creates an equal and opposite problem. That's exactly what happens with rice cultivation. When you dry out that patty, it exposes the soil and a bunch of nitrous oxide, which is another greenhouse gas um gets emitted. And so if you just grow it just with soil, it's going to emit nitrous oxide. It's going to be covered up with the the water in the patty, and then when you dry it again, it's going to release more nitrous oxide. So, they're trying to figure out like the balance of which one's worse. You know, would it be

better to just leave it flooded all the time? Would it be better to to dry it? Because you can take care of the methane, nitrous oxide goes up. Take care of the nitrous oxide, the methane goes up. But did you see that thing about rice fish farming?

Uh, is that like the seawater farming? No, this is it's a little different. It's where you actually you t you grow fish. you like farm fish in your rice patty and they actually help take care of the methane problem by eating a lot of the algae that would otherwise decompose. So, the methane goes down, the nitrous oxide emissions go down because the patty's always flooded because, you know, the fish need the water. And I saw that it um increases yields by 10 to 15% because the fish are pooping and so they're the nitrogen cycle is going a lot a lot more frequently. you don't need to add as much fertilizer if any and they're eating a lot of the pests. So there's a 50% reduction in pests and I think in some if you do it right you don't even need to use pesticides in rice production. So growing fish with your rice is like the way to save the planet.

What kind of fish do you know? I don't I don't think it matters. Probably a smalish fish because there's only a few inches of water that you need for rice patties. So it wouldn't have it wouldn't be like a giant carp. You'd be you'd be up the creek, I think, or the carp would be if you tried to grow carp in a fish patty,

right? It wouldn't be say a marlin or great white shark. No. Okay. No, but it would be something to see.

Uh I did mention seawater rice there. You know, people efering to do that kind of thing to, you know, grow it in in seawater.

Yeah. Uh obviously it's got to be a situation where they can get a rice variety that um can tolerate that salt content and the alkaline soil. Uh but it's something that they're looking into that is got a little bit of promise I think.

Yeah. Because it reduces the land use, right? Because you're not using really valuable land for cultivating rice.

Yeah. Um there's also the matter of toxins, too. I didn't realize rice was such a downer. Did you?

Uh I did not. I didn't know about the the toxins and I think specifically arsenic is one of the I I think like lead and cadmium also but arsenic seems to be the major offender.

Yeah. And the reason why it's such a deal with rice is rice absorbs it more than most crops for some reason.

Um the big downer about the whole thing is that arsenic is most present in the uh germ and the bran. So, the type of rice that's most beneficial for you health-wise, brown rice, is also the ones that have the most arsenic.

Aha. Um, I I found an article that asks if the benefits outweigh the risk as far as arsenic and brown rice is concerned.

It was in 2023 uh edition of Frontiers and Nutrition. And they basically said, I don't know, we should do more study on it.

Said, eat what you want, bub. Yeah, I guess. B basically they were like we don't know why would why would you even read this article chump

uh if you're seeking out safer rice uh you know there are people have done studies consumer reports I think did some testing for arsenic specifically

uh they found white bosmati in California India and Pakistan uh and sushi rice from the United States maybe not intuitively uh has the least amount of arsenic Um if you get rice from Arkansas, Louisiana, or Texas, um it's going to have higher levels of arsenic.

Yeah. Um it's if your soil um is more likely to be contaminated by industrial metals, that rice is going to suck it up. And apparently California's soil is less contaminated by industrial metals than some other states. So from what I could tell, your best bet is California rice as far as arsenic is concerned. Yeah. And you know, you rinsing the rice helps before you cook it. Um, cooking it in the water and then draining and even rinsing afterward can reduce the arsenic count even more. But it's not like um it it it's apparently it's not enough arsenic to really do a ton of damage to you. But the problem is is children that eat like a lot of times, you know, you'll have like the processed rice meal and baby food. M

um and I think that stuff you you can't ever tell how much that has been rinsed or not as my

orthodontist Dr. Blake used to say. Uh so yeah, it can be problematic for for little babies and toddlers. It can be problematic for you too like as a grown-up and yeah it's not like you would have to eat a lot of rice to hurt yourself with say arsenic but if you eat rice every day which a lot of people do you can and arsenic is associated with multiple kinds of cancer diabetes cardio issues and obesity. Um so you don't really want a lot of arsenic. So that is an issue with rice everybody let's face it.

Should we take a second break? Yeah. All right we'll take another break. uh go over some lists of countries who eat rice a lot. Probably not a very surprising list, but that and other stuff right after this

Okay, Chuck, I'll give you 10 guesses. What continent produces the most rice? Uh, is this production?

Yes, production. My guess is China. No, continent. Oh, uh, Asia. Yes, you got it. Right out of the gate

within that I would say China. Yeah, you'd be right. China is the number one rice producing country in Asia followed by India. But that makes sense because they both have a lot of land mass. Bangladesh is a big eyepopper because it's not very big but it's the third uh highest producing rice country in in the world.

Yeah, that's impressive. But all 10, top 10 are Asian, whether Southeast Asian, South Asian or uh Asian proper, I guess.

Yeah. Um I mentioned those states. Uh California Louisiana Texas Mississippi, Missouri, and Arkansas produce the almost all the rice in the US, which is about 20 billion pounds a year. Um more than I thought. Obviously nowhere close to being a top 10 producer. But uh as far as eating rice in the United States, you're probably eating American rice unless you're going to like a specialty store cuz about 80% of the rice sold and eaten in the US and 95% of sushi rice eaten in the US comes from US farms.

That's why when you go to a izakaya in America, you'll frequently see somebody with a mouthful of rice chaining USA.

That's right. Um Okay. What about the countries that eat the most rice? that eat the most.

What what continent would those be on? All 10. Well, I'm going to say Asia, but I'm also going to drill down and say China. Uh just because of the the sheer amount of people.

Okay. Yep. China's number one. India is number two. Both because they have a lot of people there. Bangladesh is number three. Again, they really love the rice.

Yeah. Uh but in the top 10 list, Nigeria is number 10 of the uh countries that eat the most rice. Um, and there's something about eating a lot of rice. It's impressive. Number one, Bangladesh is number one for eating rice. The per capita rice consumption per year equals 592 pounds of rice per person, which is almost two pounds of rice a day. And that's dry uncooked rice that they're counting. This isn't like the wet stuff.

Yeah. And like I said, it's impressive, but it also goes to um it goes to point out or underscore that the the developing status of a country like Bangladesh because if you eat tons of rice and you're getting a lot of your calories from rice, it's because a lot of other foods aren't available to you because your country is lower income. So that's why Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, um they all eat the most rice. uh in part because it's widely available, but also in part because their uh economies are still developing or aren't as developed as countries that eat less rice.

Yeah. And that's again those are per capita numbers for that last list. Yeah. Um that reminds me though of uh when I was a kid in in like first, second, third grade maybe. Um, we would once a year at school the school lunch would be a cup of white rice with a little pad of butter on it so that it drove home like what other kids around the world were eating for lunch that day.

Oh, interesting. Yeah, I thought it was kind of a nice and principle, but um there were always at least one or two kids who ate that and then also ate their lunch that they brought from home too, like little baskets. And I would say that pad of butter is a bit of a cheat.

Probably. Probably. But still, I mean, I definitely It gave me pause. Yeah. I mean, I like a little butter in some rice. I mean, not when I'm cooking any kind of like um you know, Asian style foods and stuff like that. I'm not going to put butter on sushi rice, but if you give me a, you know, a steak and a big old glob of Carolina Gold, you can bet your bippy I'm going to throw a little butter on that. Little salt and pepper.

Yeah, I never got into This was definitely not Carolina Gold rice that they were feeding us in styrofoam cups in first grade.

It's probably uh what's the stuff in the bag? The minute rice or whatever. Yeah, like Uncle Ben's or something.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, the only time we see that in our house, we keep a stash for when the dogs are tummy sick and you have to boil chicken and just have chicken and plain rice. And so, we have those

those bags. That and like camping when I was a kid is is that bring evokes those memories.

All right. Like, would you just have your pockets full of loose rice? That's how you'd hike it in. That's

how I'd hike it in. Um, let's see. What else? Anything else about this? Oh, I want to point something out. Um there there was a study in 2005. Remember I talked about how people eating rice um the countries that eat the most rice also tend to be developing.

Well, there was a study um from Ttori University. And the reason that stood out to me is because Yumi taught English in Tori at a high school. Yeah.

Oh, cool. It's a very rural area. She taught it at like a technical school, technical high school, but she loved it. She went over there for a year as part of this program. But this Ttoria University um study basically found that rice is rice consumption is dropping off in Asian countries because wealth is expanding in Asian countries and they're saying, "Hey, we love rice, but we also want that steak." Uh like Chuck said,

you know, every time you throw a little another Yumi tidbit out, she becomes that much more interesting.

Yes, she's very interesting. And I realize how much more interesting both Yumi and Emily are than either one of us.

Yes, it's true. I'm kind of a schlub compared to Yumi, for sure. Yeah, I mean, yeah, congratulations to both of us because they're both wonderful, interesting uh women. I mean, Yumi had a her her graffiti tag was apothecary for God's sake.

Pretty great. It's amazing. Um, we already took a second break, right? This is the third act we're in.

Yeah, we're in the third act. So, we can have a little fun with some of these rice dishes if you want.

Okay, go ahead and fire that gun. Well, uh, rice obviously in a lot of dishes worldwide is going to be like a base layer for something. Maybe a curry, maybe a stewed meat or vegetable.

Maybe you're going to stir fry something and throw it on top of that rice. That's a great way to eat rice, not just as a uh just a regular old plain side dish, even though that's fine, too. Um, but I've had quite a few of these. Um I have had jalof rice. Oh yeah.

At African restaurants. Yeah. It's got it's you know got like stewed tomatoes, onions, um you know, peppers. A lot of these are kind of similar around the world cuz it's

you know it's meager honest ingredients like you know garlic and thyme and ginger and rice and tomatoes and onions like stuff you get from the ground. Sometimes you can add meat and vegetables. Um but jolaf rice is is good on its own.

Yeah. I I looked up a recipe of that and I'm like that is something I'm going to try.

Yeah, there's also biryani. Love it. Um I am not more I'm more of a curry guy so I don't get biryani when I go to Indian restaurants because it's a little drier.

Yeah. But it it's got some nice um flavors to it for sure when I have had it. But it's a rice dish. It's got rice spices, some vegetables, usually some kind of meat in there. Um yeah, it's good. You're a red curry guy. Green.

Uh, red. Green maybe if I'm at a Thai place, but I'm a tikka masala and butter chicken person.

Oh man. God, I could eat that all day long every day. Yeah. No, I mean I said it before and I I think it was our Chinese food episode. Like I could subsist entirely on Asian cuisine 100% of the time and be as happy as I've ever been

for real. I don't need the other foods. Um, also shout out SOG. Sogg paneer is fine, but chicken sogg is Oh, it's the best.

Yeah. Uh, I did mention paella earlier. I love it. Yeah. If you aren't familiar, it is a Spanish dish.

Uh, I think the Moors brought it over the uh Yeah, that's right. Oh my god. What was that?

That was from Seinfeld when um George played Trivial Pursuit with the bubble boy.

That's right. That's right. The moops. No, I'm sorry. The moops. Uh pie is delicious, though. It's, you know, you cook it in a very specific flat bottom round pan. Um if you don't have one, like I I've cooked it in just cast iron skillets.

Uh it's got that clam juice. That's where a lot of that seafoody flavor comes from. And depending on what kind of seafood you want in there, could be clams, could be shrimp, could be scallops, could be all that stuff. Um some saffron, some like tomatoes that stew up nicely.

Uh it's just delicious. I love a paella. It's usually not the kind of thing you can just get a serving of. You get like a a larger paella for a table.

Um that clam juice thing, didn't that reminded me? Didn't you used to make or maybe still do make um bloody maryries with clamato?

Uh yeah, that's the only way for me. And that's a Canadian thing. And I can't remember what they call a bloody Caesar. That's what it is.

Oh, I've heard of that. I didn't know it was Canadian. Yeah. Uh there's something there's another rice dish um that I've had before. I don't know if you've ever had it. It's called sushi.

Um, yeah. And, uh, it's made with that short grain rice, seasoned with some vinegar, like I said, but it actually, and I know we talked about this in the sushi episode, um, it grew out of a way of preserving fish in vinegar. They would jam some uncooked rice in there with it, too, and pack it in there. That's right.

And, uh, I guess somebody said there's a better way to do this. And that's where sushi came from. But you can still get that original version called nar sushi. Um, which I really want to try. I like pickled anything, man. You could pickle an old shoe and I'd be like, I'll eat a little of that. Sure.

Uh, we're not going to go down the list of rice noodle dishes, but we we should point out that rice noodles are a thing.

Yeah. Um, we should mention a few rice desserts because, uh, a a really really nice rice pudding to me is one of the more delicious things you can eat.

Uh, yeah, I'm more of a bread pudding guy, but yeah, I'll eat rice pudding as well. That's when you cook the rice with the milk and sugar and usually there's like vanilla or cinnamon or something like that in there.

I would eat just about anything with condensed milk. Yeah, that's good stuff. Oh, I have a little a little tip for you, Chuck. Yumi found this stuff. It's ube condensed milk.

Okay. It is the greatest flavor you will ever put in your mouth. It's insane how good it tastes.

Is it Do I have to go to like an Asian mart to get it or is it You could probably order it online, but yeah. You're you're you're going to find it at an Asian store more than maybe Target.

Okay. Um there's also mango sticky rice which uses that sticky glutenous rice which by the way it doesn't have gluten. It's just glutenous meaning sticky starchy.

Gluten with an I. Yeah. Yeah. Uh have you heard of Polish rice cake or Polish rice cake? I'm not sure.

I had not until this. It's basically rice and condensed milk and some other stuff. But it's it's a cake with rice. It looks pretty good. Uh well, we should talk about mochi at least because uh mochi is a cake and that is made from the glutenous rice as well. And if you've ever, you know, had mochi in the US, it's probably a little different from Japan because it's not always a sweet thing there. But in the US, it's usually wrapped around ice cream

as most things are. Yeah. And you can buy like the little mochi ice cream balls or whatever here.

Yeah. They're good. A lot of times in Japan, they'll have like sweet red bean paste inside. That's a traditional mochi there, too. But apparently it's it references the rabbit in the moon. In Japan, it's a rabbit in the moon rather than a man in the moon, but he's making mochi up there.

Oh, I never knew that. Yep. And we can't not mention horchata real quick. Okay.

Yeah. I I had a I went to a I had a horchata flight in Mexico City one time on a food tour.

Oh, nice. And it was my first kind of real exposure to it that I I think maybe my first real exposure. And man, it was so different and delicious.

Yeah, it's um it's rice soaked in evaporated milk. So, you know, I'd like it. Add some cinnamon, some vanilla, and then you eventually after it's mush, you strain it so that it gets any of the grit out. So, it's kind of a a thickish milkyish drink that's amazing on its own, but if you're into things like rum or bourbon, they mix really well with hora, especially in winter time.

Very interesting. Oh, yeah. You'll thank me later. Okay. Okay. I'll pre-thank you now because uh yeah, I didn't know that was a thing. Oh.

Uh how I mean, where do you get hora here? Uh you can buy horada. Um, it those people make it and sell it here in the United States, meaning companies or whatever, but it's actually not that hard to make. You You might be better off making it yourself.

All right, I'll give it a shot. I I know that the stuff we had in Mexico City was like really really authentic and great.

Yep. Plenty. There's plenty of recipes. There's like five or six ingredients. All of them easily obtainable. So, I say make your own, Chuck.

All right, I'll give it a try. Um, that reminds me, what did you think of cherry Pop-Tarts? Cherry Frosted Pop-Tarts?

Ah, yes. followup. I I texted Josh photos. I immediately went to the store. I bought the cherry frosted Pop-Tarts and um of course I had to get the cinnamon uh brown sugar cinnamon.

Of course. Boy, those cherries are beeping delicious. Yeah. I told you they're way better than strawberry, aren't they?

Uh yeah. I mean, they are. They're way better. I did my butter trick. Um believe it or not, I I've I've um I think there were four packs in each. So, eight total packs, 16 total pop-tarts,

and I've only eaten six total Pop-Tarts. So, three packs. That's nice. Since then, I'm really You just You just can't go in there and and house those things in two days.

You You can pretty easily, but I think you're showing a lot of restraint here. I I feel like I'm showing restraint.

Yeah. Way to go, man. And you're Are you enjoying them more than if you just ate them all at once? Nah, interesting. It's awesome. Uh, you got anything else?

I got nothing else. Grow rice. Yeah, go grow some rice. Make your own horada. Make some sushi. Make some sticky rice. Make some curries. Just do all that stuff. Some jawoff rice. Get to it.

And while you're making all that, uh, we'll just go ahead and read some listener mail.

Well, this is from Ted. Uh Ted wrote in because Ted I'll just read it. You've responded to Ted. You're going to send Ted something which is very nice of you.

Nice. Uh hey guys, I recently finished uh listening to the full stuff you should know catalog. Yeah, big deal. For the fifth time.

That's a big deal, Ted. For sure. I think it's a big deal if you listen to it all once.

Uh yeah. Oh. Oh, yeah. You're doing your new thing. Yeah, my new thing. Okay. I like it. Uh, see us attached screenshot for proof. Ted, we didn't need proof. We take you at your word. Um, at least I finished u my most recent. Listen, guys. Thanks for all the wonderful hours. As an appreciation, here are the five things I most like about stuff you should know. Number one, Josh and Chuck have character arcs as their lives have changed over the 17 years, and they're not afraid to share some of that personal stuff.

Mhm. I'd say big-time character arcs. Yeah. I mean, 17 years. Yeah. Like think about what's happened to anyone over their the last 17 years. There's a lot of lot of stuff. Yeah. Uh number two, Josh and Chuck don't talk over each other like many other podcasters do. Uh we don't often. Sometimes we do, but yeah, we usually let each other go, right?

Yeah, we try to. I mean, every once in a while there's a stumble here or there, but no, we're we're pretty good about that. We we always have been.

Yeah. But boy, some podcasts, even some of my favorite ones, at times I'm like, "What is going on? There's like three or four people talking." No, you can't do that.

Can't do that. Number three, uh, I've learned more about movies and popular music by listening to stuff you should know than actually by watching movies or listening to music.

Yeah, I like to think that we have imparted some pretty cool recommendations over the years.

Yeah, I just noticed Ted said he'd send in five things he loved the most. There's only four, so I guess, you know.

Oh, Ted, this is beautiful because I know what the last one is. Oh, I bet that's why he did it. Duh. Uh, number four, Josh and Chuck never make it all the way through a list. Of course, Ted, I'm so dense. I didn't even get the joke.

That was a great That was a great arcane in joke for stuff you should know, Ted. Bravo. I'm listening to the entire catalog five times, and we are trying to figure out something special to get you for it. So, thank you for letting us know.

That's right. Thanks, Ted. Thanks, Ted. If you want to be like Ted and talk about how much you like stuff you should know or how many times you've listened to stuff you should know or whatever you want to say, you can send it in an email to stuffodcast@ iheartradio.com. Stuff you should know is a production of iHeart Radio. For more podcasts iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Rice is Nice | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW"?

Josh Clark (Host), Charles "Chuck" Bryant (Host), Jerry (Guest), Ted (Guest), Dr. Claw (Guest).

What is "Rice is Nice | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW" about?

The topic explores the significance of rice as a staple food globally, noting that it provides around 20% of the world's caloric intake and is crucial for the livelihoods of approximately 200 million households in developing countries. The discussion also emphasizes that rice is the seed of the rice plant, highlighting its fundamental role in nutrition and agriculture.

What is mentioned in this Stuff You Should Know episode?

165 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Stuff You Should Know, Rice, Little Chuck, Exploring with Josh, Rice cultivation, China. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Rice is Nice | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW"?

The episode runs 47 min; the transcript is about 8,965 words in 214 timestamped sections.

More from Stuff You Should Know

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated February 24, 2026.