The rice industry in the United States is up in arms over the naming of what is known as the "cauliflower rice", the latest food craze sweeping the United States.
Cauliflower rice is made by briefly pulsing the vegetable in a food processer. Unlike rice, which needs at least 10 minutes to cook, cauliflower rice can be cooked in just three minutes. Furthermore, with health trends extolling the values of cutting down on carbohydrates - rice has up to 25.5 times as much carbohydrates as the same amount of cauliflower rice - health-conscious folk are eagerly chasing this new trend.
An online search shows that the product is unavailable in major Singapore supermarkets such as Sheng Siong, Cold Storage and NTUC FairPrice.
The US rice industry, as can be expected, is not too happy with anything that threatens their market share. And a rice lobby group said in a May 11 statement: "Vegetables that have gone through a ricer are still vegetables, just in a different form."
It continued: "Only rice is rice, and calling 'riced vegetables', 'rice', is misleading and confusing to consumers."
But as Quartz reported, some within the rice industry benefit precisely because of lax definitions. Plant-based food companies that produce milk alternatives, such as soy, almond and, yes, rice, have drawn the anger of milk farmers who think they should be banned from marketing their products as milk.
Requesting the US Food and Drug Administration to tighten the definition of rice could therefore hit the rice milk producers.
This has the unfortunate side-effect of making the rice industry appear mildly schizophrenic.
While the battle over rice's identity continues to rage, players in the cauliflower rice market appear unfazed. US judges have already dismissed at least two cases that tried to prevent companies from using the word "milk" when advertising soy milk, reported Quartz.
Said Plant Based Foods Association executive director Michele Simon to the publication: "Just as with milk, no one owns the word 'rice'."
http://www.straitstimes.com/
Graham
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14 comments:
Cauliflower, it is all the rage...replacing a lot of foods!!
...rice is rice, cauliflower is cauliflower!
I can understand why rice growers would be upset at the possibility of losing market share to the cauliflower rice rage. Me? I like both.
I just bought some cauliflower rice over the weekend. I haven't tried it yet. Interesting article! :)
~Jess
That sounds confusing 'cauliflower rice'..don't think I'd care for cauli being done like that..rice is rice and need longer cooking as stated.
" Riced vegetables " ?
Sounds unfamiliar yet very interesting term to me Jan.
Glad you shared this I will try to Google it more.
I am fond of rice specially mixed chicken and vegetables rice but due to health issues I have to avoid it for little long.
When something new is introduced market mafia always try to stop its promotion, they act selfishly often
That's interesting and I'm glad the words Rice or Milk aren't owned by the rice or milk manufacturers.
The first time I made cauliflower rice, I didn't read the instructions properly and didn't cook it at all and managed to convince my husband that it was how it was meant to be, lol.
Of course he wasn't too impressed with cauliflower rice.
Hello, I am sure the cauliflower rice is delicious. I love cauliflower cooked any way.
Happy Wednesday, enjoy your day!
Wow, it's all about the money. The businesses are rice farmers as well as milk farmers are worried they are going to miss out on some money because of a couple of words. They need to get over it.
No no no I don't want cauliflower rice!
Isn't this something? It's really amazing. And it's also going on with eggs too. Companies saying that they are being hurt by plant-based products. Me? I'm plant-based so I love having alternatives. But boy oh boy, call something milk, rice or mayo and panties go into a bunch.
Are you saying cauliflower rice is available in shops? I had no idea.
Perhaps they could call it rice-style cauliflower instead?
I'll just keep buying whole cauliflower and making my own cauliflower rice, that way I can still have some of the cauliflower for regular use.
I am seeing this more and more. I enjoyed your post very much.
Really interesting! I have to look more up about this!
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