Myths About the Food Rice
- This grain has been a source of food and tradition since at least 2500 B.C. Beginning in China, its cultivation eventually spread throughout much of the world, with each culture assigning it a place in folklore.
- Rice is common to all the cultures of east and Southeast Asia, where it figures in folklore with other crops. One tale from Java explains how rice and other fruit-bearing plants originated from the corpse of a young girl.
- Chinese mythology considers rice to be the gift of animals. According to legend, a disastrous flood took place and there was no food. A dog arrived with rice on its tail, thus saving the day.
- It was a goddess who arrived to a drought-stricken Philippines, who induced the grain to grow for the hungry people.
- Some Asian cultures focus on the existence of a rice soul, which travels from field to field at harvest time. Great care is taken that this entity does not escape.
