Explains the basic techniques for cooking rice with recipes from around the world from appetizers to desserts.

Among the staple foods most welcomed on southern tables—and on tables around the world—rice is without question the most versatile. As Michael W. Twitty observes, depending on regional tastes, rice may be enjoyed at breakfast, lunch, and dinner; as main dish, side dish, and snack; in dishes savory and sweet. Filling and delicious, rice comes in numerous botanical varieties and offers a vast range of scents, tastes, and textures depending on how it is cooked. In some dishes, it is crunchingly crispy; in others, soothingly smooth; in still others, somewhere right in between. Commingled or paired with other foods, rice is indispensable to the foodways of the South. As Twitty's fifty-one recipes deliciously demonstrate, rice stars in Creole, Acadian, soul food, Low Country, and Gulf Coast kitchens, as well as in the kitchens of cooks from around the world who are now at home in the South. Exploring rice's culinary history and African diasporic identity, Twitty shows how to make the southern classics as well as international dishes—everything from Savannah Rice Waffles to Ghanaian Crab Stew. As Twitty gratefully sums up, "Rice connects me to every other person, southern and global, who is nourished by rice's traditions and customs."

From jambalaya to risotto, curry to nasi kandar, few foods are as ubiquitous in our meals as rice. A dietary staple and indispensable agricultural product from Asia to the Americas, the grain can be found in Michelin restaurants and family kitchens alike. In this engaging culinary history, Renee Marton explores the role rice has played in society and the food economy as it journeyed from its beginnings in Asia and West Africa to global prominence. Examining the early years of rice’s burgeoning popularity, Marton shows that trade of the grain was driven by profit from both high status export rice and the lower-quality versions that fed countless laborers. In addition to urbanization and the increase in marketing and advertising, she reveals that rice’s rise to supremacy also came through its consumption by slave, indentured servant, and immigrant communities. She also considers the significance rice has in cultural rituals, literature, music, painting, and poetry. She even shows how the specific rice one consumes can have great importance in distinguishing one’s identity within an ethnic group. Chock full of delicious recipes from across the globe, Rice is a fascinating look at how this culinary staple has defined us.

From musubi and two-scoop plate lunches to high-end cuisine, rice is a rich tradition in the Islands. Author Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi offers a loving look at Hawaii's staple--its history and lore, fascinating trivia and 101 great "rice-ipes" from home cooks and celebrity chefs: fried rice and risotto, paella and pilaf, rice salads and sushi and so much more. An indispensable guide to the versatile grain--island-style--The Hawaii Book of Rice is a colorful celebration of the Aloha State's favorite food.

As the only son of a wealthy mill owner in Whitehaven, Cumbria, England, Jonathan Lucas is destined to become a millwright and a mill owner in northeast England like his father John Lucas. He lives a protected life behind the walls of his father's reputation and business success. The challenges of coming of age in the 1760's are soon approached by the young Jonathan as he enters an apprenticeship with his Uncle William Lucas. He travels to Manchester, which is far away from his mother and father's loving care. He encounters many adventures as he learns and loves his way toward adulthood and hopefully, a successful career of his own. Jonathan must choose between two beautiful girls that enter his life in a most memorable way. One is the epitome of beauty, grace and refinement. She is the lady that most women aspired to become in eighteenth century Great Britain. The other is a fiery, auburn-headed beauty that stirs passions deep within the men who meet her. Her family's background gives his parents pause concerning this most desirable woman. The decision is not an easy one, but one that has to be made, ... sooner or later. The American Revolution profoundly affects the fortunes of Jonathan's family, as well as all businessmen in Britain, America and most of the trading nations of the world. It prematurely ends the apprenticeship that he was serving with his father's brother William. It also brings a threat from an old friend of the family that is most unexpected and unwelcomed. Returning to Whitehaven, Jonathan takes a wife and starts a family of his own. Tragedy strikes and changes the course of his life. Thrust into a new role as a father and head of his own household, Jonathan continues to be confronted with difficulties, in both his business and personal life. He is offered an opportunity that would not only change his future, but change the world. Life, love, and destiny are put to the test as Jonathan comes face to face with what could be catastrophe or incredible fame and fortune. This story is the first in a series of books that will follow this important genius and his descendants as they move from Merry Old England to The Low Country of Antebellum South Carolina, to become "The Rice Kings. Follow Jonathan as the abrupt changes of his world throw everything he knows into turmoil. Check out the website: davidhenrylucasbooks.com

Rice and Beans is a book about the paradox of local and global. On the one hand, this is a globe-spanning dish, a simple source of complete nutrition for billions of people in hundreds of countries. On the other hand, in every place people insist that rice and beans is a local invention, deeply rooted in a particular history and culture. How can something so universal also be so particular? The authors of this book explore the specific history of the versions of rice and beans beloved and indigenous in cultures from Brazil to West Africa. But they also plumb the shared African, Native American and European trans-Atlantic encounters and exchanges, and the contemporary forces of globalization and nation-building, which combine to make rice and beans a powerful substance and symbol of the relationship between food and culture.