Grains of Fortune
I’m your typical Filipino who can’t
seem to get enough of Rice. I’m unable to get through a meal without having those
starchy miniscule grains accompany my “Ulam” or have a sticky rice treat for
merienda. Every morning around 10 a.m., to
my delight, my favorite street vendor rolls a cart filled with sticky rice
treats from suman to rice cakes like kutsinta. I ask him to pack a slice of biko and a few
rice cakes in plastic for me. As I head down the road leading to the MRT
station i’m met with a row of tapsilog stations each selling their versions of “Sinangag”.
It seems that in a society dependent on rice, I bombarded with choices to fill
my every desire of rice. I am consumed with the thought of rice as I begin to
start my day and I begin to wonder about people’s purchasing habits towards
rice and their general concerns with this cereal that is but second highest in
production to Maize.
Rice is but the first thing we
Filipinos look for when having a meal. In a 3rd world country, at
the tyranny of monsoons, rice is but the most feasible and well adapted
resource of food. It is no wonder we have so many variations of rice from long to
short grained or malagkit to dry varieties. I wanted to study and observe
peoples preferences on rice in a supermarket and see which varieties of rice
they were attracted to. With prices ranging from 49 to 80 pesos a kilo from specialty
jasmine to organic I observed people’s reactions towards rice the rice section.
In this certain supermarket only a
few varieties were available (i.e. Sinandomeng, glutenous, organic, dinorado,
jasmine, and laon. Most people were attracted to a certain brand of rice called
snow white at the price range of 50 pesos. Duly noting this I asked the store
clerk which brands were more easily sold. He gave the same brand of rice of
snow white. With a variety of rice in display I was quite curious why customers
weren’t as varied in opinions of purchasing rice. Upon interviewing a few
respondents buying rice, each respondent noted that it’s just rice. They tend
not to choose the cheaper variety because it lacks in aroma and tenderness.
Most of them are on a budget and buying rice like jasmine rice isn’t a
necessity. The only reason they are to choose specialty rice is if they are to
make a certain recipe such as sushi which would require a more glutinous rice.
As to whether they’re health conscious or not they don’t buy other forms of
healthier rice like organic or brown rice. They simply limit their consumption
of rice or buy ingredients that are healthier when paired with rice.
It’s fascinating to observe our
purchasing habits towards rice and understand our perspective towards it. We are a country who is dependent on rice and
it’s quite interesting to know whether rich or poor rice cuts among social classes.
From my observations, we aren't picky with rice. It
simply just is a staple in our food diet. The
Philippines is the 8th largest producer in the world and we produce
at least 2.8 percent of the world global share in rice production. However, in
2010 we became the world’s largest importer of rice. I think it is important to
know how important rice is in our country and how much wealth we have in it.
Currently the Philippine Rice Research Institute is developing rice that has
more beta-carotene, they termed this rice “Golden Rice” for its distinct
yellowish/golden color. It isn’t out yet in the market but it is said to be
healthier and have a price range that of the mid level rice out there. We have
grains of fortune that can hopefully help us compete again in the global
market. Rice can solve the diminishing health of our youth and can help uplift
the economic woes of our country.
