Exploring the Many Meanings of Bangladeshi Rice Culture pp. 99-112

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Israt Jahan Lipa

Abstract

In Bangladeshi food culture, rice is the leading staple. It is home food, festive food, or, in hard times, a food of survival. It is not merely that Bangladeshi people cultivate rice; their customs, rituals, and daily activities concerning rice serve as a thread that binds them together. Rice culture is a common inheritance. In this research note I explore Bangladeshis’ long history of not only relying on rice to combat hunger but to celebrate, and to create home and community. Drawing on oral interviews as well as published materials, I consider how the conceptualization of rice as a “main staple” or the “only” food during hard times in Bangladeshi cuisine underlines changing classed notions of rice’s place in contemporary foodways.

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Research Essays, Notes, & Queries