Rice, glorious rice

The rice for my kiam pung (a rice dish I make with mustard greens, shrimps, sausage and mushrooms) was spread out on a tray, put under the sun. As I sifted through the grains to pick out the odd unhusked grain or wayward pebble (there were none), I remembered how we used to “clean” the rice after it was delivered by our suki – in a kalesa, no less – from Quiapo market, not far from where we lived in San Miguel district.

The rice came in a coarse jute sack, and in the afternoon lull between siesta and dinner preparation, our helpers would take rice from the sack, spread the grains out on large bilaos and, over kape and kuwentuhan, pick out the impurities of pebbles, twigs and unhusked grains and drop them in a tin cup; in those days there was quite a lot, the cup ending up about half full by the end of the afternoon. Then with deft wrist motions they’d send the grains up in the air and the chaff ended up on the floor, to be swept away later. This method of manual winnowing was foolproof, but when I tried it with my aluminum tray it didn’t work as well as with a bilao.

Rice has always been the center of our diet. I don’t remember what kind of rice we had – dinorado, sinandomeng or whatever – there was just rice for everyday meals, rice for lugaw (congee) and malagkit for special things like ba-chang (savory suman).

Rice has become such a controversial and convoluted issue, what with imports and high prices and low farm efficiency and high cost of inputs. The Philippine Statistics Authority says we are about 81.5 percent rice self-sufficient (August 2023). The US Department of Agriculture predicts our 2023-2024 imports to be 3.8 million metric tons, although our Department of Agriculture disputes that, claiming a bumper harvest last year. As of July 11, we have already imported 2.369 million MT, per the Bureau of Plant Industry.

Now the promise is P29 per kilo rice, but only in selected Kadiwa stores, 13 of them so far. With the tariff lowered this month to 15 percent (from 35 percent), prices all around are expected to go down, by P6 to P7 per kilo (to the P40 level daw) when the new imported stocks come in, according to the bright boys and girls in government. That’s good news – I think, but I’m not holding my breath.