This reminds me of a sign I saw decades ago in a gift shop in Charleston, where I grew up:
"Benne Seed Candy - Benne seeds were brought to South Carolina by African slaves, who ate it for good luck."
Enjoy your slave rice, if you must. I find the idea of it unpalatable.
3
Mr. Twitty's book recently won a James Beard award. I'd love to see an in-depth feature of him & his work. He has done some amazing demonstrations through the Townsend's You Tube channel about historically accurate cooking and re-enactment work, and it'd be lovely if the NYT could take the opportunity of this award to spread the news about his thoughtful, scholarly, challenging (in all the right ways) work. He has a singular way of talking about the enslaved experience and foodways in a way that illuminates and makes hard-to-swallow facts inevitable.
5
As a descendant of the Merikins, I am proud of my people and its history. I would be happy for Trinidad to commercialize this precious crop to help the growers in the Moruga Hills.
11
I would refer the reader to Melville Herskowits's "Myth of the Negro Past," which documents the strong associations of customs and even language of Africans enslaved in the Americas with those of Africans on that continent's west coast. He particularly studied the Gullah of the Sea Islands. The monograph is available free online. Don't be misled by the title: Herskowits's argument is that slave owners couldn't and didn't beat the Africa out of Africans; on the contrary--they guarded their heritage despite the efforts to erase it.
14
What an absolutely fascinating article. The rich history and cultural impact of food is underappreciated.
What I found to be critically important is that upland red bearded rice is not grown in vast flooded fields that consume massive amounts of water. Every time I travel up the center of drought-prone California and observe thousands of acres of medium-grain rice, one of the most water-intensive crops in existence, I shake my head in bewilderment. I've stopped growing tomatoes in my garden, while I see thousands of acre-feet of water evaporate in the Sun.
Growing upland red bearded rice in the California Central Valley could greatly reduce water usage, and re-introduce Americans to this historically (and nutritionally) important crop.
29
Such an educational, enlightening, and fascinating article! However, the following reminded of how woefully ignorant we are as a people in matters of basic world geography: "Still, no one had made the connection between the rice in Trinidad and the rice that had been lost in the American South."
"The American South"? Wouldn't 'the US South' be a more accurate and less confusing nomenclature? To clarify: America is a continent divided by three: North America comprised by Canada, the United Sates, and Mexico; Central America is comprised by 6 nations, one is Panama; South America is comprised by 9 nations, one being Brazil. All those nations have an adjective to describe their people, we don't; hence we make do with US citizens, but all the nationals of the Americas are full-fledged Americans just as we are.
As a teacher of Spanish, whenever I ask students to name a country in Central America, few would say Chicago, Ohio, or Nevada; ask to name a country in South America, it is not usual to hear, Alabama, Georgia, Arizona. However, a 5th grade student of just about any school in Latin America can recite all the names of all nations of the Americas and the Caribbean, say a thing or two about their corresponding topography, and also, a few of their cultural traits.
When, my US people, are we going to put a halt to this appalling geographic ignorance? And when will our media, our press, and our schools stop perpetrating this dismaying and embarrassing colonial practice?
13
I have worried over this for a long time. In Mexico I have to say I'm from the United States but Mexico is the "United States of Mexico." Sometimes I just smile and call myself "gringa" or "gabacha." Pejorative terms but at the same time more accurate. While traveling people thought I was from Europe because I wasn't rude. The Americas extend from northern Canada all the way to Tierra del Fuego. Thank you for pointing this out!
3
While slaves made their white masters French-inspired dinners, in their own shacks and slave quarters, red hill bearded rice fed slaves in Georgia and perhaps elsewhere, fed them a starchy, easily-grown substitute. Now we may touch, smell, and taste one more "bread" of suffering, incorporate into our very bodies, and make energy as they did from it, power that brought generations of long-suffering Americans through degradation and spiritual suffering. Hill rice is a nutritional photo of my friends' black ancestors, bringing another tiny bit of the past alive for all colors and kinds. We can taste more of America's complex past - this is a fabulous find.
11
This is extremely cool. Our local health food store has about two dozen grains of which I had been ignorant till I started trying them: several kinds of barley, wild rice (several types), rye, volcano rice, Madagascar rice, black rice, sweet brown rice, freekeh, spelt, wheat berries...good lord I can't name them all. Take a 1 cup mix, in any ratio you please, of any two or three of these grains and cook slowly for about 90 minutes in 2 1/2 cups water...it's an amazing fount of variety. Plain bleached white rice is the Wonder Bread of grains, branch out and you won't regret it. I look forward to the day when red bearded rice takes its place next to the other great grains that are out there....if you have a good place to look.
8
First paragraph, the words "millions of enslaved Africans" made my day. I hope writers everywhere are shying away from using the term "slaves." No human being was ever a slave. They were enslaved, and that puts the crime directly into the lap of those who committed the crime.
37
Excellent point! I never thought how piercing that concept is, thank you
3
Thank you, David. This is precisely why I read the comment section of newspapers. A perspective so obvious, it is easily missed.
3
Loved this article -- thank you! It's wonderful to see, in yet another way, how the now decades long industrialization of our food supply and resulting steeply diminished diversity in staples like grains and fruits is being reversed, one species or variety at a time. I'm looking forward to hopefully being able to buy this rice sometime soon from Anson Mills and others!
4
Blessed is this rice. Thanks for sharing this fascinating discovery.
6
Gullah people have always impressed me with the rich cultural cues that harken back to the west coast of Africa. And in the case of upland rice, one cue has found a home and friends in Trinidad. The rice is far from “lost” though. Country rice, with its reddish textured and nutty flavor, is still grown by local farmers back home in Sierra Leone. I couldn’t help but smile when I read about Mr. Twitty using it as “a base for a chicken stew, made in the style of the Mende people of Sierra Leone, that he cooked with palm oil, onions and garlic”... at a Smithsonian event.
9
Morean is also described as a "herbalist" elsewhere. Seems to be that titles are easily conferred. Anyone for snake oil?
Exciting article. Exciting discovery. Especially interesting is the possible connection to SE Asia. When I was in Bali years ago, I ate their red rice, used in a cooking class I took there, and served at various restaurants. It's delicious, and I always wondered why it wasn't exported. I assumed it was due to lack of land for growing enough to export. Couldn't find it here. Could this red rice be related to the red rice in this article? Whatever is found, I look forward to being able to cook with this, and I hope soon. The flavor of the red rice I had in Indonesia is wonderful.
5
I first learned of these heirloom foods through Chef Sean Brock’s book “Heirloom”, specifically Carolina gold rice. Hopefully, discoveries and reintroduction of these crops will lead to tastier food.
Many fruits and grains that are grown in large industrial farms lack the full flavor of their artisan cousins. Tomatoes, apples, pears, and mangos are but a few examples.
3
I don't understand why the seed has to be approved by the agriculture department. It is a rice that was once grown in the US. It obviously does not become invasive or it would still exist here in the wild. Or, is it more like hemp were they intend to protect certain politically connected industries that pay to keep it out, like hemp. It makes no sense.
7
It is probably being tested for the presence of pathogens like viruses or bacteria that could be harmful to other plants.
6
Is red bearded rice more nutritious than brown or white rice?
7
Growing up in Los Angeles, my mother would always have her older brother in North Dakota on the farm send her the hard red winter wheat he raised back there for her to spout for wheat grass juice here. It reminded her of home, I guess. That was way before Whole Foods.
5
I want to stand up and cheer!
5
I have been looking for Carolina Gold rice for the past few years. Is it sold in American supermarkets?
1
Try the vendor Anson mills mentioned in the article. You can order the rice you are looking for by mail.
2
The Fresh Market sells it.
1
My very favorite way to learn history -- through food! Thank you so much for this article, and please keep them coming!
16
Excellent article - an example of the Times rising above the drivel that so much of our major media focuses on.
15
I highly suggest the author of this article read the work of Judith Carney, beginning with her seminal book Black Rice, and her more recent scholarship on the transference of risiculture from West Africa (Greater Guinea) to the south-eastern seaboard of the US, where European planters established rice plantations and the ensuing rice economy. It will lend a rich history to this story.
10
I grew up in South East Asia where rice was ubiquitous at the breakfast, the lunch and the dinner table. It is the quintessential Asian staple. As I grew up, I was always curious about by the presence of rice in America. Did rice come to America completely through the slave trade? Another mystery to reckon with is rice farming in meso- and south America. One fascinating thing that links Asian and Indigenous American civilizations is the irrigational terracing of hillsides to grow rice in South America as well as East Asia. Where did the "rice" grown by the Incas come from? Was it really rice? Or something else? Can someone explain this?
6
In his book, The Cooking Gene, Michael Twitty devotes several chapters on the rice growing abilities of the slaves who were specifically captured for this ability. To me, the book is a fascinating read for not only the knowledge spared of the historical aspect of rice growing in the Carolinas, but also the horrible lives the captured lived.
3
My father knew people from all walks of life and easily introduced his children to his friends. One such friend was only known to me as Mr. Geechee. He was tall, very dark-skinned and very quiet. What I loved most about Mr. Geechee was that when he came for a visit, my mother would fix him rice--plain with salt and butter. That meant I got a bowl of rice too which in those days included a bit of sugar. Seeing how much Mr. Geechee loved rice made me love it even more. Of course, as I grew older and studied African-American history, I discovered the origin of Mr. Geechee's name, where he was from, and most importantly, why he loved rice. Rice remains my go-to carbohydrate. Always in honor of Mr. Geechee and the thousands of others who brought their foodways with them on the Great Migration.
21
What a fascinating article! Thank you to my fellow commentators for the excellent book suggestions on this topic.
6
I needed this article today. A long day. Tearful and hopeless.
27
I guess the NYT "false title" section of the style book does not apply to people in Trinidad. "Trinidadian ethnobotanist Francis Morean..." and "A Trinidadian ethnobotanist." If he was a New York chef, then of course he would be, "the chef, Francis Morean..."
4
I'm not sure I understand what you are trying to say. By " Trinidadian ethnobotanist" I understand that the ethnobotanist is from Trinidad. What is the problem with that?
13
In the New York Times they would be more specific--not just New York, but where in New York: the Manhattan based Francis Morean, or Brooklyn based ...
Exactly. This a New York paper, so no geographic designation implies the person is from New York. If the person is from elsewhere it needs to be pointed out if it is relevant to the article.
1
This article was very informative. As an heir to low-country Geechees out of Charleston, I know well the attachment to rice. No meal is considered complete if rice isn't included.
21
Doesn’t sound like it was missing since many people knew about it there. Another “discovery” by the West!
18
One can only imagine that this rice, perfect as it is, will fall into hands such as Monsanto or some other "agribusiness" company, and they will "tweak" it and utterly ruin it, because they think they know better than Mother Nature.
34
Almost totally overlooked in the history of rice in the US is the essential role of African women. They were targeted by slavers in West Africa for their knowledge in growing and processing rice. This history is documented by Judith A. Carney in her powerful book Black Rice:The African Origins of Rice Cultivation in the Americas. The rice economy and wealth of the pre-Civil War US South was largely built on the backs of enslaved women from West Africa. It's appalling that their contribution has never been acknowledged. And the reality is that even today women provide most of the labor to grow the global rice crop. They are responsible for the back-breaking repetitive work of seedling pulling, transporting seedlings, transplanting them, weeding and harvesting. And they do this work in hot, humid conditions, standing or stooping in stagnant water throughout the season, year in and year out. Many women can no longer stand up straight by the time they reach their 60s and 70s. While billions of dollars are spent by the public and private sectors on super-sophisticated techniques to produce new seeds, the expectation is that hundreds of millions of women throughout Asia and Africa will plant those seeds with nothing more than their hands and a primitive scythe. It's time to invest more in the human capital that grows the world's food supply.
60
Since the slave industry bought people who had already been enslaved by fellow Africans I do not see how women who grow rice could be targeted. But more importantly there are assumptions it seems in her book. She notes that female slaves were sold for more then men and assumes that this was because of their skills. The fallacy here is the assumption that all women captured in the interior of Africa actually knew how to grow rice. The bigger problem is that the Colonies were already exporting large amounts of rice before the advent of large scale slavery in the South.
As to you comment on the grueling work women do in planting rice I would simply point out that farming is grueling work. Work that men, women and children perform around the world everyday. There is no real recognition for any of them. With the advent of robots we can end the situation you so aptly describe and I fully agree I with.
4
People who produce food are our heart and soul .
6
I think you're saying two things. If we're talking about the theft of labor (in the antebellum US), how can we simultaneously talk about the "contribution" of slaves? To what were they contributing? Was their labor stolen, or were they "pitching in" to--what?--help create the wealth of white Americans? What, exactly, should we be acknowledging: an contribution or a horror? That's the double-bind: if "rice" is a cultural product to be memorialized in the Slow Food Ark of Whatever (as "treasure"), we can't simultaneously talk about it as a commodity embedded in a regime of labor extraction. So when people who produce food are acknowledged as "our heart and soul," is that enough?
2
You know this story about rice and rice growers is interesting, but as a person who has suffered extreme infant sexual abuse, it falls flat. Where does this affect the greAter group woh may have issues regarding their own development, and eating habits that have developed from social stigma?
1
I am so sorry for what you have experienced.
3
Not the first time Charleston agriculture historians stumble with facts and wants. They also declared sea island cotton to have been hybridized out of existence when in fact original sea island cotton still grows in Anguilla, British Caribbean.
3
This sounds exactly like the absolutely delectable indigenous hill rice I ate, helped raise, and greatly enjoyed as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Cuna Indian reserve of San Blas (now called Guna Yala) along the Caribbean coast of Panama in the 1960s. It was the daily staple, and grown and available all along the coast, with minor variations from place to place. I'll be it is still there. The Cuna culture was historically in close contact and much affected by African and Caribbean influences, and I actually knew old men who had worked as sailors along the U.S. east coast, including among the sea islands of South Carolina and down along the Florida coast, including helping build the breakwater for what became Miami. Clearly the was enormous interchange. There were also escaped slave settlements in the area back in the 18th and 19th Centuries, so the chances for plant exchange were legion. I'll be you could go down to that Panama coast area today and collect quite a sample of rice that is the same or quite similar to that described in this article. I'll bet is is the same stuff or a very close relative thereof. We called it "arroz rojo", red rice, and everybody seemed to know exactly what we were referring to. Very rich and nutty; never tasted better to this day. Most families who do any farming keep the seed. If would be wonderful to be able to buy it here.
78
I’ll also say, at least from the photo and the description, the rice appears to be very similar if not identical to the Red Rice that’s ubiquitous throughout Bhutan.
9
As a Peace Corps Volunteer in Sierra Leone in the early 1980s, my job was to show farmers how to grow irrigated swamp rice. However, they all said they and their families preferred the taste of upland rice, even though the yield was smaller. A few years later, I helped train Peace Corps Volunteers on St. Helena Island in South Carolina and was introduced to the Gullah culture, including its wonderful food, for the first time. Since then, I've been fascinated by the connections between West Africa and the Low Country. I would love to be able to buy this variety of rice in my local grocery store!
34
I read a book from Uganda and one local woman quoted in it by saying “ when are the people from the West come to Africa to learn something ? They always come to teach something . Even thou it’s not working .” And quote .
3
The great food historian Karen Hess studied the topic of rice in her masterpiece from 1992, The Carolina Rice Kitchen: The African Connection. Very relevant to this discussion.
16
Reading the article made me hungry for some of this rice with okra on top.
10
I'm actually more fascinated by the Georgia slaves that ended up in Trinidad. Is there a place where i can read more about them?
18
Yes! Read Alan Taylor's The Internal Enemy: Slavery and War in Virginia, 1772 -1832. Although the book covers a long historical span, its heart deals with the War of 1812 and the role the British played in helping escaped slaves from coastal Virginia, Georgia, and the Carolinas. Some of these slaves would become the ancestors of the Merikins referenced in this article. The book is exhaustingly researched and documented, it's a magnificent work of history, and it tells a story we need to know.
43
There is a lovely documentary commissioned by the US embassy in Trinidad detailing the story and journey of the Merikins. You can find it on youtube.
13
The Mericans: Free Black American Settlers in Trinidad 1815-1816
by John McNish Weiss
10
The fact that hill rice does not need to grow in watery fields means that it will contain less arsenic than most rice, a significant omission from this article.
54
Another long unacknowledged example of how Africans contributed to economic enrichment in the US.
33
It sounds like the basis for a good movie!!
9
There is dryland rice grown in Cuba too. For fun once we brought a bag of the Japanese rice we cook here several times a week down to our 'familia' there. They didn't like it for general rice cooking at all. But -- as noted in the article, it turned out to be good for making 'wet' rice, including "rice milk." And that's how they used the rice we brought.
And the War of 1812 connection! Ya, this was an exciting piece to read in so many ways.
17
While I appreciate this article, it's time for the New York Times to give up the word "slave" and refer to the human beings who were enslaved as "enslaved people". Check Michael Twitty's writings and you'll find him making this point. Africans were forcibly brought to this country and enslaved, but notwithstanding the US Constitution, they were fully human, even when enslaved. Enslavement puts the onus where it belongs - on those doing the enslaving, while "slave" characterizes the human beings enslaved by acts out of their control. Come on Times, you can do better.
87
So we jettison the words "man" and "woman" because they refer to "male people" or "female humans" or the like?
What you and others find in non-person centric wording is what you and others wish to hear. Others do not. The intent is rarely to insult, to ignore, or to otherwise dehumanize a person. They are words. They are labels. They are identifiers, all contingent upon context of course.
That onus of enslavement is exactly where it should be when I hear the word "slave", and that is that a human being was enslaved, and thus a slave of, another human being. It is that simple. If anything takes the focus upon the real issue - that humans made slaves out of other humans - it is wasting time debating over what constitutes "politically correct" language, and ignoring the act itself of enslavement as well as those who practiced slavery.
Put another way, we all know what "slave" means. To complicate the issue is to dilute the issue, to ignore the point: slavery was, and is, wrong.
(And in fact, to limit the term to human beings ignores the very real slavery of animals, which we lovingly refer to as "pets". Isn't that a sweet term? Pets.)
16
They *were* enslaved by acts out of their control. In other words, other people did that to them. People who are enslaved are slaves. The word doesn't characterize them, imply that they were not fully human or imply that they were somehow complicit.
15
Laurence, thank you for the term "enslaved people". I have been stumbling over the term "slave" when I read to my children, trying to ad lib alternatives.
4
Generally speaking, this is a great article. Just the kind of reporting a world class newspaper should do. The type the NYT used to produce regularly, but of late all we get are diatribes about Russian meddling in our elections (as if we're too stupid to know not to vote for Trump).
As a genealogist, this article illuminated some of the pitfalls of historical investigation. When the facts are few it is tempting to try to connect details you know about (Jefferson and his cask of seed) to things not known (the origin of the hill rice). The connection between the transplanted ex-slaves of Georgia to Trinidad seems plausible enough, but caution is always warranted.
The great tragedy of the African-American experience is the near total loss of history. As with people from this unwilling diaspora, the best way to make connections without guessing (and being wrong) is to genetically test everyone and every strain of rice plant to see where the familial associations are and are not.
7
How does it cook? How does it taste? If (as I hope) this rice becomes commercially widespread, we need more information than is conveyed in this article.
3
If it becomes commercially available, you'll be able to satisfy your curiosity by sampling it which will go much further than any text will.
1
A good description of how it cooks and tastes would enhance the likelihood of this rice becoming commercially available. That's not too much to ask for an article in the food section. After all, we are all foodies here!
I am pleased to see the story of hill rice and the "Merikins" hitting main stream media providing favorable publicity to my small island state. The cultivation and use of hill rice, even in Trinidad, is a small cultural retention peculiar to Moruga and surrounding areas. Many persons in Trinidad know less about hill rice than the readers of this article. I appreciate the sharing and remain thankful that I was able to attend the symposium organised by Francis Morean. Just for clarity. Chef Dennis meal referred to the use of coconut water to cook the rice. In Trinidad we say coconut milk. The grated meat/flesh of the dried coconut to which water is added. The water is then squeezed out of the coconut and strained for use in cooking. If you are not a purist you can rehydrate powdered coconut milk as a substitute.
24
@Maud, you're so right! I'm Jamaican and completely missed the intention there-- I thought he meant coconut water for real and was thinking to myself that that should be interesting! LOL. Of course, coconut *milk* is what's intended, as we from the Caribbean all cook our rice (-and-peas) with it. Thanks for pointing this out. (Next time I visit T&T, sampling hill rice is prime on the agenda.)
--AE.
8
"Coconut milk" is an example of a food product that sounds natural when boxed and sold, but be warned: Almost all commercial c. milk sold in boxes in our food stores is sugared today, and it is often preserved with chemicals for long shelf life, and not the natural ingredient. The home recipe for it here is the tasty, probably healthier real stuff. Thank you for it, Maud
1
Amazing story! Trinidad & Tobago is truly a blessed land. Would like to note that our local strain of cilantro is typically spelt, "shado beni,” or "chadon beni". A creolization of "chardon beni" which translates to blessed thistle.
Also, any article on Trinidad should include a reference to our nation, which is Trinidad & Tobago.
18
Chadron beni translates to "stinky" or "bad smelling" thistle.
So, the difference in the spelling - _chardon_ vs. _chadron_ - is of no consequence?
1
For those interested in learning more about the African slave connections to American rice cultivation, I suggest reading "Black Rice," by Judith Carney. Fascinating, very readable, investigation.
8
Yes - fascinating article but lack of awareness of Carney's "Black Rice", which documents the cultivation of rice in coastal West Africa and its subsequent cultivation in the American South, is a major and lamentable absence.
2
Does anyone know if it's possible to procure seed of this strain?
6
"Mr. Jordan is so enamored that he is trying to find farmers in the Northwest to grow it, once the seed is approved by the Agriculture Department."
This would be a big mistake. As soon as this ancient rice was commercialized, the seed would be altered and Monsanto would hold the patent and the chemicals to spray on it.
16
Cornelia Walker Bailey wrote an interesting autobiography about Geechee life on Sapelo Island: "God, Dr. Buzzard and the Bolito Man."
9
Great read. Thank you
6
Rice is delicious, but should we as Americans really be consuming any more of it than we already do? For the sake of culinary diversity, I hope this strain of rice becomes more available commercially, but there are healthier foods that we should be eating than rice.
Rice is not inherently unhealthy. In the US the problem is really processing and portion control, both of which can be controlled by the consumer.
18
The problem is also inorganic arsenic in certain American rice strains. I actually prefer brown rice, but the extra fiber and nutrients I gain eating it have to be weighed against the extra dose of arsenic, particularly for my children. Any rice grown where cotton was once a major crop is dodgy, since the arsenic based pesticides they used to spray on cotton fields are still in the soil, and easily absorbed by grasses like rice. Despite trying to buy local food when I can, I avoid rice from Texas and the Carolinas, which generally test the worst for arsenic levels, and buy Californian rice. We love curries and hearty stews, including hoppin' john, so rice is something we eat several times a week. It pays to at least be conscious of the inorganic arsenic exposure involved. The neat thing is, this upland rice should be lower in arsenic since it isn't grown in flooded fields. I look forward to eating it.
4
Last spring I went to Suriname to find the African black rice from Cote d'Ivorie. My art practice examines history and African diasporan migrations and culture, after first discovering Suriname Maroon wood carving while an undergrad in 1972, the trip (residency) was more than amazing. The black rice, though can be eaten, is reserved for offerings to one's ancestors. Your article is exciting to read as my research is connecting more and more widespread ancestral rice crops.
13
Any chance of seeing your work, like via a website or a publication? I'd be interested. ([email protected] if you prefer.) Thanks.
--AE.
1
I grew up in Alabama eating something akin to this rice. The wonderful "Cookie," the family moniker for Mamie Merchant who at that point had cooked for my grandmother's family for fifty years, produced a weekly edition of her famed Chicken'N'Rice. On the side, collards. Boy does this all sound familiar.
Now, north-central Alabama, in the foothills of the Appalachians, is nothing like those barrier islands from the Carolinas on down. So I'm betting the rice itself, as Cookie made it, was not related to the new rediscovery. But I'm betting the recipe was.
10
Good article. I love trying different varieties of rice. Back in the 1950’s my father would bring us home Caspian Sea rice from the Middle East. It was nutty and wonderful. I am wondering if there is a good book covering the history of rice and cooking it? Low country cuisine with rice is one of my favorites!
7
Jim, you might enjoy the wonderful "Seductions of Rice" by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid. It covers numerous far-flung cuisines and their use of the many kinds of rice grown in the world... Hubby is from South India, so I've enjoyed cooking with Kerala red rice which has a pleasant, bouncy texture, and the longest, finest grains of basmati... Me being from the American South, I would love to try this marvelous Hill Rice with a great big serving of okra!
7
This could be a big deal beyond the dinner plates of Low Country food.
Water issues and agriculture are a big and developing issue and anything that can yield rice with less water has potential to impact the food system greatly. My state of Arkansas produces more rice than any other- about 40% of the US crop- and issues of water are becoming evident even here.
27
A wonderful story for more than one reason. It's wonderful that the Gullah-Geechee people are recovering a piece of their heritage and culture, and perhaps the Merikins are learning something more too, and so are we all. It's also good news when biological diversity is preserved, and that's especially relevant in food crops. And of course marketers are always looking for next year's new "ancient grain": I hope I'll get to try this one.
13
This rice, or similar strains to it, is still widely grown in West Africa, especially Sierra Leone. I know because I worked with it, back in the 1990s, on its seed. The West African Rice Research Association devotes attention to upland red rice, to increase yields. Yes, it is delicious. Birds especially love it, which compels many boys to stand guard over fields with stones they can throw.
It would be a twist if the rice becomes a foodie favorite, making it exportable.
23
I was looking for someone to confirm that Sierra Leone is a major player in this story because, through some very basic research, I found that many slaves in the coastal Georgia region, namely Savannah, were brought here from Sierra Leone. It would be interesting to link the strains of rice now found in Trinidad & Tobago directly to existing strains in Sierra Leone and compare any evolutionary (man or nature facilitated) differences. Does the strain found in Trinidad carry genetic evidence of where it made a pit-stop in the Southern United States?
5
What a neat and interesting story.
To me it brings up some sadness, too. The loss of traditional rice varieties that were an integral part of diet and culture is hardly restricted to this example. When I first ventured into the hinterland of Bangladesh around 1990 there were dozens of rice varieties still in use. Some were dramatically different in the conditions that they could withstand, with one even being able to survive long and extended flooding. Others were selected for taste and even color.
In less than twenty years these were wiped out by the introduction of high yield varieties and their rapid acceptance by local people. This acceptance for most was an economic necessity, as farmers were dealing with a rising population on a fixed land base. But now these varieties are greatly missed.
You'll see the same thing has happened in every traditional rice growing country.
69
It is also part of the Norman Borlaug horror show. Just grow one strain of hybrid something with lots of pesticides and fertilizer and wipe out the thousands of years of adaptation by local growers in a very short time. And to think he got the Nobel prize for this.
10
One can't get too conflicted about what happened here because the introduction of super productive rices wasn't just an aesthetic call. People's lives were at stake. In the Bangladesh instance high yield rice allowed millions (and I mean millions literally) of folk to survive--not die when otherwise they would not have. Bangladesh population is now one half that of the US and their land area is about that of Iowa. They are self sufficient in rice.
10
"Bangladesh population is now one-half that of the US and their land area is about that of Iowa."
One-half of the population of the United States, about 175,000,000 people, living in - jammed into - an area as small as that of the state of Iowa, where about 3,000,000 people now live. And this strikes you as a desirable outcome.
That's crazy.
2
Very, very interesting. The history of food and how it travels is a great subject and is covered in many books. I look forward to a book about this rice.
14
Question - is this rice arsenic-free?
2
That relates more to where and how it is grown than the substrate. Arsenic is contributed by polllution and chemical use and is concentrated in rice growing by ground water contamination, the large amount of water used and soil accumulation
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Well, this is not entirely accurate. In Bangladesh arsenic in water became a really big problem about 30 years ago, but it wasn't be cause of pollution--at least in the conventional sense of how the word is used. Rather, the arsenic was introduced from a natural source: groundwater brought up from deep tube wells.
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Only if the soil has arsenic. By the way, arsenic is a naturally occurring chemical which is widespread so it probably has traces of arsenic. I suggest you bury your head in the sand and eat nothing but air. Stop worrying and enjoy life.
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You can find this strain at the Red Rooster in Harlem....
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Like everything about the Gullah people, this was a fascinating story. (If only the Times hired reporters for their news department with the eagerness and integrity of (Ms?) Severson, but that is another issue). Has anyone done any research into the genomes of the rice(s) grown in West Africa? And it looks like I am going to have to find a way to try this stuff. Again, beautiful story, and thank you.
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I have bought Carolina Gold rice and prepared it for my family. It is a wholesome rice by itself that sustains your innards for a long period of time. It is not the wimpy rice of today. This rice keep’s one’s belly and soul filled for the day.
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When will the _New York Times_ change it stylesheet so writers stop using the word "Slave," and instead write about "enslaved people."
P.S. This is a wonderful and fascinating article.
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yes, I had this thought too. I consciously use the term"enslaved people/person" in my writing and speaking, rather than the term "slave"
I also loved this article.
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I definitely agreed that the term "slave" is a misnomer. I cannot think of a single word to serve in its place. How can a single word describe human beings possessed the of resilience to survive despite the imposition of unspeakable cruelties by persons seeking to benefit unfairly by unwaged labor.
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I can't more strongly concur. "Slave" is demeaning and seems to shift the blame for what is not a person, but a condition. Use "enslaved people" always.
This is not word play!
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A shame that Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor didn't live to see this.
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So Mr. Dennis cooked it with a chutney made from"an herb called shadow benne that is similar to cilantro".
Today, in Trinidad (and Tobago) one can buy a marvelous street food called "bake and shark" which is (as one might expect) shark in a bun, both cooked on-site, and covered in 'shadowbenny' sauce.
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I haven’t seen chadon beni spelled that way before.
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You never know.
Precious culinary discovery. And no doubt dishes made from it will be preciously overpriced. Just like setting foot on Sapelo, where the indigenous people have learned a thing or two about exploiting the tourists and their presumed white guilt. Far too much emphasis on contriving a mystique around people and exalting them far beyond where any of us are, names like Queen and holidays like Kwanz'aa are but a means for everyone to rationalize neglect and abuse during Africans' unchosen sojourn of many centuries in North America.
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"the indigenous people have learned a thing or two about exploiting the tourists "
"Turn-about is fair play."
By the way, there are no "indigenous people" on Sapelo. There are only the descendants of 400 slaves taken there by Thomas Spalding and exploited by him in the establishment and maintenance of the island as his plantation.
Nice to see a story that turned out well. There aren't many from that time.
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African rice farmers were enslaved and brought to the Carolinas because of their knowledge and abilities.
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Your source for this is?
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Common knowledge. Large exhibit at the Charleston Museum ("the country's oldest"). Africans not from rice cultures couldn't handle the lowcountry rice industry, the labor was so intensive.
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Recommended: Judith Carney's excellent book, "Black Rice: The African Origins of Rice Cultivation in the Americas" about rice cultivation and slavey in the American South.
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I found this article fun but then it got confusing. If the hill rice is related not to a West African strain but in reality to one from East Asia then this isn't the same rice that was grown in the USA (if we presume that one was from Africa). What is missing is the proof that the hill rice is genetically the same as the rice used by slaves. However, what is interesting is how rice from East Asia got imported to West Africa and why? The slave trade did not involve side trips to China or Japan. If the link can't be made then why write this article? If the link is in question why not mention it up towards the top of the article?
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It's not confusing if you actually pay attention to what you are reading. The rice that may be related to the rice that was grown in the US was found growing in Trinidad. The hill rice that was apparently imported from East Asia was found growing in Suriname. Because of it's similarity to the hill rice found in Trinidad researchers thought it might also be related to the lost US rice, but as the article pointed out that turned out not to be the case. The Asian rice deserves mention because it's a wrinkle in the story of the search for the US rice, however, although the origins of the Asian rice might also be interesting it's only peripherally pertinent to the story being told here.
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I have no inside info on this, but Africa was trading with China and India long before the European Slave trade. http://www.understandingslavery.com/index.php-option=com_content&vie...
So the rice being originally from Asia does not preclude it being brought to America from Africa!
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Brian, it is a long confusing story. "Asian" varieties of rice spread all over Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, coming to West Africa as early as the 7th century, and definitely by the 1500s. It may have diffused down through the Sahara from the middle east, or been brought by Portuguese explorers. "Asian" or "African" rice often just refers to the place it was first domesticated, as two different species of rice were domesticated on each continent- in Asia around 8000 BC and in Africa around 1000 BC.
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Interesting article. I'll need to ask some of the local Lowcountry old timers if they cook a version of this.
I sure hope that for all these "special" rices they can get the prices down to where average families can enjoy them more than once in a while. Carolina Gold is still 5 times or more than supermarket rice. A little price reduction would be nice. Also many and much of the new crops mostly go to the local restaurants, not retail stores.
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Turns out my mother-in-law (a Charleston native) cooks the related recipe with regular rice called "limping Sally ". Name changed much like the game of telephone.
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What a great article. I’ve been trying different kinds of rice and am fascinated by their differences. Thank you.
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Wonderful article - A pleasure not to be dwelling on the miseries. And thanks for the comment on the book about the Merikins. I love cooking new recipes and would love to be able to buy this rice. By the way - is anybody worried anymore about arsenic in rice? Remember the to-do several years ago. I don't have room for any more worries, so maybe we all threw up our hands and said enough!
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Page 5. March issue of Consumer Reports: "Go to CR.org/arsenic0318 for more dietary guidance. And contact your representatives at congress.gov to urge them to vote for the RICE Act."
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It was a hair on fire story. Arsenic has been used in medicine for a long time. https://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-1226-ARSENIC.a...
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"Arsenic has been used in medicine for a long time."
And, of course, that means that arsenic is _not_ a deadly poison. Have I understod you correctly?
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Great Article. This may be a good time to emphasize that colonial planters had basically no clue what they were doing in regards to rice cultivation. Rice cultivation technology was a West African technology that the slaves had working knowledge of. Their knowledge made rice a major component in the colonial South Carolina economy. Check out an old book: Uncommon Ground: Archaeology and Early African American, 1650-1800 by Leland Ferguson - for more about this.
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I do hope this becomes commercially available. I'd love to try it. Great story. I'm always fascinated by the journey of any group of people. It's interesting how something like rice can help to define it.
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What an exciting find! I own several Gullah cookbooks and would love to try this rice in traditional recipes. I'm from Mississippi, well steeped in southern and Cajun cuisine, both of which strongly rely on rice. I'm slobbering over the prospect of using this rice with gumbo, red beans, and making Andouille sausage from scratch with it. Food history is fascinating. Thank you for this article!
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I would recommend a slightly different word choice. “Drooling” would be preferable to “slobbering,” although I’m not trying to put words into your mouth.
And, by the way, this article has made me hungry, too.
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Thank you for such a well researched and well written story.
The questions it asks about hybridization makes one think that there may be other strains of hill rice out there.
Keep us up on Mr. Dennis's search.
I would love to hear more stories about the Merikins, please.
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What a meticulously reported story. I love that rice brings together the historians, linguists, botanists, geneticists, anthropologists, and of course - chefs! The little grain that shapes and is shaped by a people.
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Wonderful story! I'm excited to add this rice to my cooking repertoire and its story to my library.
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What a wonderful find and well-told story. Congratulations and thanks to Mr Dennis for your passion for and successes with promoting Gullah-Geechee foods and to Mr. Roberts for your continued efforts to revive heritage grains grown in the American South.
What a great way to explore, bond over, and appreciate a wider swath of our shared American experience.
I look forward to purchasing some once it's approved for growth in the U.S.
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I look forward to the TV spots for "Black Panther"-brand upland red bearded rice.
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Another upland rice--wonderful. Perhaps it demands less water, a boon to farmers everywhere.
Farmers in the uplands of Laos and Vietnam might be candidates to adopt it--as long as they find it tasty. Thomas Dooley, a doctor/missionary at last mid-century in Laos, wrote a book about the struggles of uplanders for food. Every spring, they burned the mountain to clear land for their rice. The Night They Burned the Mountain is its title. The burning hills were a sight to see and every bit as destructive of the land as the California fires.
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Thomas "I Lied for the CIA" Dooley? That guy?
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Actually, the periodic burning of vegetation to clear land for crops is an ancient way of farming called swidden agriculture. Done properly it is not destructive the land as each field is farmed for a few years and abandoned in favor of another field. The California fires are not destructive either, except to the people who live in its path. In fact there are seeds that cannot germinate without having been burned first.
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In Liberia in the late 90s we found a cultural preference for upland red rice, but cheap imports of white rice from the US and Asia and local instability had suppressed its cultivation and had depressed the market. We need to encourage a greater appreciation of the diversity of cuisines in Africa based on indigenous crops.
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and the slavery that still exists in Liberia??
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Of course, Max. We have to grasp at every straw that we possibly can, in order to justify slavery in the United States, "the land of the free." After all, Liberia originated as a colony founded by the United States in which to dump surplus and used-up, worn-out American slaves.
2
Excellent piece of culinary history. Better in drier dishes? Now I want to try this hill rice in my black beans and rice recipe with peppers and cumin.
Toss some blackened sweet shrimp on top and I'd be in heaven.
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Wonderful story! I have been fascinated by the Merikins since I read Alan Taylor's magnificent book, The Internal Enemy: Slavery and War in Virginia, 1772 - 1832. I can't wait to cook with this rice, and when I do, my family will toast the Merikins and their successful fight for freedom.
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There is a lovely documentary commissioned by the US embassy in Trinidad detailing the story and journey of the Merikins. You can find it on youtube.
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I love heirloom rice. My favorite is black rice, but I like red rice too. I can't wait to try this one.
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