Rice is rice is rice … or is it? When I was a child rice was something you used to make rice pudding. School dinner rice pudding was quite disgusting as a rule but my mother made the best rice pudding possible. Nowadays, however, it would never occur to me to make rice pudding or order it if it popped up on a menu somewhere.
A friend of mine tells the story of how her mother, always prepared to try something new, to be in the vanguard of whatever was happening, rather like my friend in fact, discovered long grain rice. This was sometime in the 1960s I think. Previously, like my mother, she had used the round grain rice, then only one available for much of our childhood, to make puddings. But someone had told of this “new” kind of rice, long grain and meant to be more of a savoury than a sweet thing apparently. So she proudly announced to her family one mealtime that she had something new for them to try and brought to the table a steaming dish of boiled rice. So the family duly ate it, declared that it filled a space but they were puzzled as to why such a fuss was being made about it. After all, it was a bit bland! I suppose you have to be in the right mood to enjoy eating boiled rice without any accompanying dish, be it meat or vegetables.
As I said, I don’t eat rice pudding. Rice is something I use in savoury dishes, added to stir fried vegetables, or in risottos. I probably break a whole lot of Italian culinary rules by using whichever rice I have to hand when I make a risotto, instead of using proper risotto rice. And now I read that one of the odd consequences of global warming is leading to a shortage and putting risotto at risk of extinction.
Italy is Europe’s largest rice producer, growing about 50% of the rice produced in the EU. Most of its rice fields are in the Po valley, which stretches across much of the north of the country. It is in these fields that the unique risotto rice varieties, such as carnaroli and arborio, are grown.
I remember writing some time last year about the dangerously low levels of the River Po. I wish we could send them some of our rain! A contributory factor is reduced snowfall in the Alps. When we hear about reduced snowfall it’s usually because of problems for the tourist industry, specifically for ski resorts. But apparently the rice fields depend a lot on snowmelt sinking into the ground and helping to maintain water levels in rivers such as the Po, and incidentally keeping paddy fields nicely soggy.
There you go. The interconnectedness of everything and unexpected twists to already existing problems.
Here’s another odd twisted fact. Amidst stories of rising crime there is this:
Nearly 1,000 people a week, 70% of them women, are prosecuted for TV licence fee evasion. It is the most common crime in the country, apart from driving offences. A fifth of all criminal prosecutions brought against women are by TV Licensing, which has extraordinary explicit powers – it can apply for a warrant to search a property, for instance.
Who knew? Surely the justice system has better things to occupy itself with.
On the subject of unusual twists on existing problems, here’s another:
Israel has stopped issuing visas for international staff of humanitarian organisations that work in occupied Palestinian territories, hampering efforts to get food and other vital supplies into Gaza.
Dozens of foreign aid workers, including heads of organisations, have had to leave Israel and the Palestinian territories, or are overstaying their visas and risking deportation so they can continue working, an alliance of aid groups has warned.
A spokesperson for Israel’s foreign ministry, when asked about why the visa process had been halted, said “this issue is being looked into by governmental authorities”. The interior ministry and welfare ministry did not respond to requests for comment.
Meanwhile, aid is not reaching starving people. This morning I read that Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says at least 70 people were killed in an attack on a crowd of Palestinians waiting for humanitarian aid in Gaza City. This is higher than the death toll of 50 reported previously by AP. Health ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra said another 280 were injured in the attack early on Thursday.
According to Reuters, an Israeli military spokesperson said there was no knowledge of any Israeli shelling there when asked about Palestinian casualties near Gaza City.
There are conflicting reports on the newwires as to whether the attack was a shooting or shelling.
And still our government fails to vote on calling for a cease fire, hiding at the moment behind scare stories of the country being in danger of being controlled by Islamist extremists. We seem to be in danger of our government stirring up problems. Here’s an article by Peter Oborne on that subject.
And here’s an article from today’s Guardian maintaining that London and other major cities are more diverse than the government would have us believe.
Oh, and here’s another by Torsten Bell, pointing out that Suella Braverman’s view of ghettoised Britain is mistaken.
But we are where we are and old terminology like “racial prejudice” is being increasingly replaced by talk of “race hatred”. Hatred is a very strong word for a very strong emotion. We should try to avoid it.
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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