15 minutes ago, Anna N said:Wow! It must be odd to live so long in China and dislike the staple food. Even stranger to me to hear that the rice is low quality.
Chinese rice is dirt cheap, and although some is OK, that tends to be expensive if you can even find it. My local supermarket carries around eight varieties of loose rice ranging from just OK down to 'I wouldn't feed that to my dog!".
I experienced the same in India. While basmati (sadly very difficult to source in China) is wonderful, most of it is exported and the locals eat the low quality stuff. It's a cash crop. Not for eating!
Fortunately, I can get excellent hom mali (jasmine rice) from either Thailand, Cambodia or Laos. More expensive than the local stuff (almost double) , but 1000% better.
Funnily enough, and forgive me if I've related this before, a few years back I had to go back to England for my son's wedding. It's expected. One friend who had mocked me for paying so much over the odds for decent rice, begged me to leave her what I had left (a couple of kilos) in case it "went off" while I was away. I was only away for two weeks!
