1.

RICE GROWING AREAS:

The whole country, total paddy land area is 3.2 million hectares and land for
water rice cultivation is 3 million hectares. However, paddy cultivation area
is decreased from year to year compared to other cultivating plants such as
coffee, tea or aquaculture. Rice cultivating lands converted to golf play
ground is another main problem in Mekong delta.

2. HISTORY

Rice is a staple food for half the world’s population and its cultivation is
dated back some 7,000 years ago in Southeast Asia. It is a symbol and also
part of ceremonies and offerings. It’s one of the most important food crops
in the world and an important part of Asian culture.

There are thousands of rice varieties. Rice is a cereal grain related to oats,
rye and wheat. It comes in white, brown, red, black or amber. Its grains can
be either short or long, and thick or thin. Rice mainly grows in flooded fields
(it needs a constant supply of water) and is called lowland rice. In countries
where there is plenty of rainfall, rice may be raised on hills and is called
upland rice.
3. HOW TO PLANT RICE?
4 FACTORS: WATER, FERTILIZERS, HARDWORKING, GOODSEED.

4. VIETNAMESE MYTHS
A. Once upon a time, the rice grain was in fact a very large ball. Rice was
not cultivated then, but at harvest time people instead lit incense and
candles, and prayed. The rice grain would simply come into their house, and
they would have sufficient for the season.Unfortunately, one year a lazy
woman, in spite of her husband’s instruction to sweep the house to make it
ready for the rice grain, procrastinated. Her husband finished praying and the
rice grain arrived at their house before she had finished sweeping. The
woman was so startled that she struck the rice grain with her broom,
whereupon the rice grain burst into a thousand pieces–each small as a grain
of rice. From that time since, people have had to plant, harvest, and pound
rice.

B. God did not mean for people to have work hard to grow rice. A spirit
messenger had been entrusted by god to bring rice to earth for humans to
enjoy. God gave the messenger two magic sacks. “The seeds in the first,”
god said, “will grow when they touch the ground and give a plentiful
harvest, anywhere, with no effort. The seeds in the second sack, however,
must be nurtured; but, if tended properly, will give the earth great beauty.”

Of course, god meant for the first seeds to be rice, which would feed
millions with little effort; and the second to be grass, which humans couldn’t
eat but would enjoy as a cover for bare ground. Unfortunately, the heavenly
messenger got the sacks mixed up, and humans immediately paid for his
error: finding that rice was hard to grow whereas grass grew easily
everywhere, especially where it wasn’t wanted. (From Le Ly Hayslip When
Heaven and Earth Changed Places, 1989, p. 7)

5. SAYINGS AND SUPERSTITIONS ABOUT RICE

A. The shape of the country of Vietnam is like two baskets of rice on a pole;
the “baskets” in North and South are the more productive rice-growing
regions as well, particularly in the South.
B. Parents must never punish a child while he or she is eating rice, no matter
what the child has done, because that would disrupt the sacred communion
between the rice-eater and rice-maker. Le Ly Hayslip remembers that she
and her siblings quickly learned to eat slowly when they fear punishment.
C. Vietnamese proverb “The scholar precedes the peasant/but when the rice
runs out/it’s the peasant who precedes the scholar” (From Jacqueline Piper,
Rice in South-east Asia)
D. Vietnamese song: “In the heat of mid-day, I plough my field/My sweat
falls drop by drop like rain on the ploughed earth/Oh, you who hold a rice-
bowl in your hands/Remember how much burning bitterness there is/In each
tender and fragrant grain in your mouth!”
E. Vietnamese nursery rhyme: “Sky! let the rain fall down/So that there’s
water to drink/So I can plough my field/Sky! let the rain fall down/So we
can eat white rice and chopped aubergine!”

6. RICE IS ALSO USED FOR WORSHIPPING IN MANY VIETNAMESE

TEMPLES?

The grain, a staple of the national diet, is seen as a “gift from God.” There is
an old legend of a young prince who wins the right to be king by making a
simple and sumptuous cake (“banh chung”) using the precious ingredient
rice. Filled with green peas and pork – one rice cake is square and the other
is a circle representing the sky and the earth. The cakes represent the virtue
of respect towards elder and ancestors. This Vietnamese tradition continues
in practice today often as part of New Year’s celebrations when families
gather together to make and then eat these symbolic rice cakes.
7. WAYS OF EATING RICE
A. Most often, rice is simply steamed and eaten as the accompaniment to
other dishes in a meal.
B. Rice can also be cooked in a soup, made into noodles which are eaten
stir-fried or in soup, made into a flour used to make both savory and sweet
dishes, or glutinous rice can be cooked as sticky rice (bring along examples
of each of these).