30285: lyall (comment) confused about rice (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Jd Lyall <maitre@lyalls.net>

dlyall writes:

> Indeed, why is Haiti exporting rice to the US when it cannot  produce enough 
> rice to feed itself and also imports large amount of rice from the US? Who is 
> the exporter?
>
> ...However, I do see a silver lining in this situation. Once Prof. Meharg has 
> proved that Haitian rice does not contain high levels of arsenic, the Haitian 
> rice growers can start charging a premium for their "clean" rice.

Haitian rice exported? I hadn't heard that. But, there should be no mystery if 
true. The USA imports Indian and Thai rice while exporting calrose and 'lucky' 
rice.
[Trujillo and sons rice is called 'lucky' rice in Hayti] Haitians won't eat 
short grain or medium grain rice.

Traditional haitian rice is yellow (from parboiling?) and of a very old 
provenance. Kindof like heritage roses? We have heritage rice and heritage 
sugar cane.  It tastes different. And costs a lot more. Haitians in Miami could 
be paying a premium for real country Haitian rice. Good deal, if so.

All this complaining about imported USA rice is off the mark, mostly by folks 
who don't know actual rice eaters. The amount of rice CONSUMED in Haiti is 
vastly greater than it was 25 years ago. The amount produced in Haiti remained 
about the same. According to statistics I saw a few years ago, that is.

Imported rice has taken the place of pitimil. Poor people used to eat pitimil, 
now they eat imported rice. Rice tastes a lot better, but pitimil is pretty 
nutritious. Pitimil is Sorghum; used as cattle feed in this country. There must 
be many different types of sorghum as well, cause my grandparents used to press 
sorghum like sugar cane to make molasses. I don't think pitimil does that.

Africans resent being given free yellow maize meal by USA relief. They think 
yellow maize is animal food. Humans eat white maize. I was told this in a bar 
in Kenya by a resentful and drunken Masai dude.

I bought some Mangos last week in a kalifornya super market. From Peru. Tasted 
like cardboard. Where are the haitian mangos?