The RiceGate Scandal
Recently, rice-lovers all over the world were united in their “outrage” over chefs who commit unforgivable “crimes” in hilarious videos done by Uncle Roger. This online persona is created by Malaysian-born comedian Nigel Ng, who came across a cooking video by the British Broadcasting Corporation on how to cook egg fried rice, done by British chef Hersha Patel. Dressed in his signature orange polo shirt, an outraged Uncle Roger detailed the various cooking crimes and sins Patel committed in the video, in what could be one of the most viral "reaction" videos this year. The video, "Uncle Roger DISGUSTED by this Egg Fried Rice Video (BBC Food)", has since garnered more than 16 million views. It has become so well-known it has even been reported on by multiple media outlets such as CNN, the Mirror and the South China Morning Post. Uncle Roger gained even greater popularity when he uploaded his critique of Jamie Oliver’s egg fried rice recipe and slammed him for his use of olive oil, “chili jam” and tofu in the dish. It has since garnered 9 million views.
Asians, Africans, Hispanics, and others on the eastern side of the world could easily point out the mistakes both Patel and Oliver made, with many eye-rolls in between. However, some of the cooking techniques in the videos are considered standard in Western societies. Why is there such a stark difference between different cultures over one simple dish?
The History of Rice
The scientific name for rice is Oryza, according to The Nutrition Source at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and common types of rice include Oryza sativa (Asian rice) and Oryza glaberrima (African rice). Asian rice can further be classified into subtypes, long-grain indica and short-grain japonica. Experts are divided on when rice was first domesticated, but many believe that Asian rice first started in China near rivers and valleys, which provided ideal conditions for crop cultivation.
Soon, other parts of the world started growing their own rice. Archaeological records suggest that japonica arrived in the Indus Valley (South Asia) as early as 2400–2200 BCE, and became a major crop in the Ganges River region beginning around 2000 BCE. During the African Iron Age, African rice was cultivated in the Niger delta region of West Africa.
This crop could have been introduced in the Mediterranean when Alexander the Great returned from his expedition to India around 344-324 B.C. From Greece, rice spread gradually through Europe and Northern Africa. In the Caribbean and Latin America, it was introduced by European colonizers and soon they imbued their own take on the dish. In the United States, rice was introduced by enslaved Africans in the south, such as in South Carolina and Georgia.
According to a 2019 article by World Atlas, the top 10 rice consumers around the world are (in descending order) China, India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand, Burma (Myanmar), Japan and Brazil. From the list, you can see almost all are Asian countries, with none being from Europe or North America.
Why The West Cooks Rice Differently
There were many cooking techniques in the two cooking videos ridiculed by Uncle Roger that sparked controversy in Asian communities, such as using colanders, using saucepans instead of woks, using induction stoves instead of fire, washing rice improperly, using pre-cooked rice instead of day-old rice, scraping a non-stick pan with a metal spoon, and refusing to install a rice cooker. Surprisingly, some white netizens admitted on social media that they themselves were guilty of using these “despicable” methods. Why did the west not use the cooking methods that Asians have been using for years?
It could be because of how much rice they cook themselves. Westerners - primarily White people - in general do not cook rice as often as Asians, Africans and Hispanics, even though they consume a comparable amount. Thus, they may not view a rice cooker, a bulky kitchen appliance that has only one purpose - to cook rice -as a good investment, unlike ethnic Chinese people who cook rice almost every day.
It may also be because of who they find to teach them rice cooking. White people likely picked up rice cooking techniques from cooking tutorials made by chefs such as Patel and Oliver (Patel is ethnically Indian, but she used a recipe provided by BBC to film the video), rather than being exposed to the methods utilized by everyday Asian people. This is unlike most people in Asian cultures who are taught cooking techniques by their Asian parents and elders (who likely do not use colanders). Uncle Roger jokingly claims that he knew how to cook egg fried rice since he was three years old.
The West’s Appropriation of Rice and Asian Cuisine
Jamie Oliver was slammed by Uncle Roger for his egg fried rice. Unfortunately, this has not been the first time Jamie Oliver has been criticised for his rice. In 2018, Oliver released his brand of “Punchy jerk rice”, with some accusing him of cultural appropriation because of how he had used jerk cuisine from Jamaican culture. “Jerk” means “barbecue”, and traditional jerk seasoning contains allspice and scotch bonnet peppers, while Jamie Oliver replaced them with garlic, ginger and jalapeños. He had admitted to changing his recipe to “suit (his) taste”, and said, “I’ll probably get a slap for it, but that’s cooking and you can do what you like!”
The “whitewashing” of food has been a major problem in the food and beverage industry, and extends beyond rice to other elements of Asian culture. Last year, Asian food critic Angela Hui lashed out at Gordon Ramsay for branding one of his restaurants as “an authentic Asian Eating House”. Not only did Lucky Cat lump a “wagyu pastrami burger”, “Asian chili jam” and “smoked ponzu emulsion'' into the dishes it served journalists, it also did not have any Asian chefs at the time of its opening.
New York Times food columnist Alison Roman, also white, promoted her recipe “Spiced Chickpea Stew with Coconut and Tumeric”, similar to Indian curry. However, she has refused to call it a curry and denied she has ever made curry before, sparking backlash from critic Roxana Hadadi, who called it “colonialism as culture”.
In 2019, there was also a newly-opened Chinese-inspired restaurant Lucky Lee’s, whose white owner said would serve "clean" food that wouldn't make people feel "bloated and icky" afterwards (It closed eight months later).
Is There One “Right” Way To Cook Rice?
There isn’t. Even among Asian communities that cook rice, there is no one agreed upon way to cook it. Some prefer saucepans to woks. Some dislike cooking with rice cookers. Some measure water with cups instead of using their fingers. Some do not wash their rice before they cook. And so on…
The idea that only people of one culture are “allowed” to cook that culture’s food is fundamentally flawed in an increasingly globalized world. It prevents people from appreciating other cultures and celebrating diversity. It hinders gastronomical innovation, such as fusion cuisine, which involves blending food from different cultures.
However, shared appreciation and understanding cannot be done if there is no mutual respect for each other’s cuisines. If chefs of another ethnicity do not take the time and effort to immerse themselves in another culture before trying to make their own “plagiarized” recipes and marketing them for profit and publicity, then it defeats the purpose of sharing our cuisines.
Sources:
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/food-features/rice/
https://www.thoughtco.com/origins-history-of-rice-in-china-170639
http://ricepedia.org/culture/history-of-rice-cultivation
