Is Rice a Local Food? You Might Be Surprised!

This week in our Back to Basics series we’re talking rice. While rice is a staple for much of the world, it might surprise you to know that “wild rice” is grown right in the U.S.! According to Slow Food USA, it is the only grain native to North America.

Last fall my Slow Food chapter had a wild rice demonstration because this type of wild rice is in the Ark of Taste program (foods that are “threatened by industrial standardization, the regulations of large-scale distribution and environmental damage”).

Manoomin, as it’s called, has twice the protein of brown rice and is important to the culture of native Americans. It is ONLY grown in the northcentral U.S. (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan)

Manoomin tastes richly complex with subtle earthy notes of mushrooms and wood smoke.  Manoomin is harvested today with many of the originally gathering traditions.  In pairs, the Anishinaabeg canoe through the autumnal fields, bending the blades of grass over the canoes and beating the seeds from the grass with their paddles.  On a successful day of harvest, a pair can gather up to two hundred and fifty kilos of manoomin.  Once harvested, the seeds are sun dried or parched over a slow fire and then threshed and winnowed in the wind—to ensure that the husks blow away. (Slow Food USA)

Admittedly I have not tried this rice yet, but will be putting in an order soon. I never would have thought that rice is grown in my state!

For more reading:

The Long and Honorable Battle of the Ojibwe to Keep Their Wild Rice Wild

True Wild Rice Probably Isn’t What You Think It Is—It’s Better

Manoomin Rice Fall Harvest

Brochure from the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission

Where to buy:

Native Harvest Online

Local Harvest

Not from northcentral U.S.?

“That’s all fine and good,” you might be saying to yourself. “But I’m not from any of those states.” Well then, I encourage you to explore whether rice is grown near you. I’m not one of those people who insist that 100% of everything that I eat be grown within a 100 mile radius, but it’s pretty neat when you can uncover hidden gems. For example, the other rice in the U.S. Ark of Taste program is called Carolina Gold Rice and is grown in Georgia, North and South Carolina and Texas.

Is rice a “local” food to you?

This post shared at Monday Mania