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Rice Stories @ricestoryteller.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

"The highly sensualized depictions of women farmers also change Amorsolo’s narration of the rice #planting scene from a depiction of agrarian economic production to a more nuanced association of agriculture with female #fertility and reproductive sexuality." #philippines #arthistory #rice #images

epa.culturalcenter.gov.ph

CCP Encyclopedia of Philippine Art | CCP Encylopedia of Philippine Art

CCP Encylopedia of Philippine Art

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Rice Stories @ricestoryteller.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

We stand with U.S. international students currently experiencing increased fear, uncertainty, and discrimination. We're reminded of rice's role in many sojourner student lives and how rice and other home foods can present opportunities for learning across cultures *and* invoke negative stereotypes.

"Similarly, his peer in the UK (Yang_F_UK_Case1) also experienced such stereotypes and discrimination when she overheard her new roommates ridiculing their Asian classmates' habits of cooking rice for daily meals. She said sadly:

It feels very bad, that is discrimination, which really has a great impact on my psychological well-being. At that time, I really felt that I was the marginalized group. Why did I come to this place?

As previously discussed, although food could provide creative and meaningful learning and interaction opportunities among Chinese international students and their peers from host or other international cultures; seemingly, it also delivered unfriendly messages derived from stereotypes and discrimination. This could result in student sojourners experiencing poor mental health and well-being, which could hinder their attempts to engage in and interacting with the host society and different cultures" (He et al., 2024, p. 319)

He, R., Köksal, S., Cockayne, H., & Elliot, D. L. (2024). It’s more than just food: the role of food among Chinese international students’ acculturation experiences in the UK and USA. *Food, Culture & Society*, 1-19. [https://doi.org/10.1080/15528014.2024.2330180](https://doi.org/10.1080/15528014.2024.2330180)

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Rice Stories @ricestoryteller.bsky.social · 06/03/2025

The electric #rice cooker, now an essential fixture in many Asian households, was not always the seamless, taken-for-granted #technology it is today. Its development and adoption were shaped by a complex interplay of #manufacturers, elite #researchers, #political leaders, and #consumers (Choi, 2022)

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Rice Stories @ricestoryteller.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

"Rice is life" is a common phrase among rice-eating peoples of the world. Like the #performative #autoethnographic #stories we share here, this saying is more than mere metaphor. Rather, these illustrate rice as #matterphor, "which offers materiality and metaphor as inseparable" (Spry, 2021, p. 171)

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Rice Stories @ricestoryteller.bsky.social · 23/02/2025

The cold spell had me making #lugaw, a Filipino #comfortfood #rice #porridge often fed to babies, elderly, and sick people. You need 6-8 times as much water as rice. I used ginger, fish sauce, pepper, green onion, salt. Came out a bit thick, but good compliment to chicken. There are many variations!

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Rice Stories @ricestoryteller.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

"'Rice-eating Asians vs. bread-eating Europeans' is a familiar expression of difference between the Asians and the Europeans. ... Roughly one third of the world population in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa rely on rice as exclusive staple food" (Ohnuki-Tierney 2004, p. 4).

asianstudies.org

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Rice Stories @ricestoryteller.bsky.social · 17/02/2025

#Washing rice on the request of my #workingmom who balanced running a small shop and her duties of mothering was more than just #chores. They were my #contributions to our family, weaving together #duty and #affection. For a six-year-old, this act of #responsibility was a form of #care for her mom.

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Rice Stories @ricestoryteller.bsky.social · 17/02/2025

Speaking of hands in rice, it reminds me of how my mom taught me the #tactile way of knowing the right amount of water for silky textured #rice. Long ago: she showed me to place my #hand in the pot, and when the water reaches beyond my knuckles, it was just right. 🧵 (1/3)

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Rice Stories @ricestoryteller.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

While I have never experienced #handplanting rice in wet paddies the way my ancestor #ricefarmers did with the help of #carabao, hands, rice, and water meet in #washing and preparing for #cooking. The index finger method, adding water from the top of the rice to the first knuckle never fails! #magic

Picture of an index finger measuring the amount of water in a pot full of rice

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Rice Stories @ricestoryteller.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Eating with hands, or #kamayan, is a #traditional, #precolonial Filipino custom. Considered #savage by some, eating #pagkakamay happens throughout #southAsia, embodying #sensual relation to food, #practicality, and #sharing. Just press the rice and dish onto fingers and use thumb to push into mouth!

en.wikipedia.org

Kamayan - Wikipedia

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Rice Stories @ricestoryteller.bsky.social · 01/02/2025

We were moved to write about #rice after noticing it’s been there for our whole life. This #affective #resonance was crystallized after visitng a #communitygarden that turned all the junks to an #art just by re-positioning them. From neglected to notable, margin to a center rice’s been there with us

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Rice Stories @ricestoryteller.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

My mind is busy but my body cannot move. What would be the next? Chains of thoughts marked by emotional outrage turn into wildly pulsating heart. I cannot hear anything but my ears keep drumming. Are we reliving those days? I keep asking. What do I feed into my #dream and #hope now? I keep hearing.

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Rice Stories @ricestoryteller.bsky.social · 17/01/2025

Another kind of rice bowl my (Shannon’s) mother created to protect from potentially harmful spirits in my old house. This is one form of #rice #charm I grew up with. Beyond bodily nourishment, these charms use rice for #spiritual #protection and represent another form of #intergenerational #care.

A protective bowl of rice with garlic, bay leaves, and red cloth assembled by Shannon’s mother upon moving into her 125-year old house.

Another protective rice charm Shannon’s mother made to hang inside the front door of her old house. Materials: a square of red cloth, uncooked rice, garlic, bay leaves.

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Rice Stories @ricestoryteller.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

A bowl of #rice embodies the journey of #life: #seeds planted, crops harvested, grains processed, recipes crafted, meals shared. It reflects #nature, #culture and #multiplicity of life’s connections. A humble yet profound expression of our being #ricestory

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Rice Stories @ricestoryteller.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

Descendant of Filipino rice farmers, I marvel at 2,000 year old rice terraces built by generations of indigenous Ifugao in Luzon's northern cordilleras. This technology of communal cultural practice enacts embodied and sustainable harmonious being with/in environment. whc.unesco.org/en/list/722/

whc.unesco.org

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Rice Stories @ricestoryteller.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

Hunching my back to repot the indoor plants my PI and I brought in STEM space for a sense of difference reminds me of my #grandma, whose frame shortened from years of tending her crops, plants, and children. #Care requires attunement—a bodily movement staying in touch with the ground and connected.

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