Is micro rice evil?

[pinotgrigio]

There are no E numbers or bad things in the ingredients list but I can't help but feel that they've done something to it.

What do people think? OK or not OK for toddlers?

[Nemo666]

dont know if it is ok but sometimes have used it for ds to do a lunch thats warm but doesnt take long...so who knows..lol

[suzywong]

yes, of course it's evil
get yourself to Kmart and buy a rice cooker ffs

[Roobie]

Well I use Uncle Ben's Express Long Grain Rice all the time for dd .... 2 minutes in the microwave, no mess, no fuss - fantastic!! Obviously it's pretty expensive compared to buying a vast sack of the dried stuff ... but who cares!!

[flamebat]

Surely everything in the microwave is techinically evil?

However tis easy, so I eat it.

[pinotgrigio]

/Adopts whiny tone/

But WHY is it evil? What have they done to it?

I DO cook my own rice & without fancy kitchen gadgets too might I add (actually, just about the only thing I haven't bought from Lakeland, but that's another thread entirely).

I was pondering having it on standby for my nanny (who doesn't appear to like cooking rice) but couldn't shake of the feeling of evilness about it.

[flamebat]

Ahhh.... no idea!!! Sorry

[Nemo666]

dont know why its evil..however if you want some rice on standby you can cook it the night before and put it in fridge..only takes 2mins to heat up.

[aloha]

Course not evil.

[moondog]

I just fail to understand why anyone needs a 'convenience' version of something that is an absolute piece of p*ss to cook anyway.

I am a rice fanatic and it takes what,25 mins??
As Suzy says,you can just cook a batch and reheat.

[pinotgrigio]

I don't like to reheat rice, DD is very susceptible to gastroenteritis and tummy bugs.

I'm happy to cook it myself (why I feel the need to keep justifying my mummy status by repeating this I don't know), but it would be handy for my nanny who is the one who can't be arsed.

Nonetheless as nobody has pointed me in the direction of www.whymicrowavericeisevil.com I have taken the bull by the horns and emailed Uncle Bens. Because I HAVE to know now.

[suzywong]

I don't think it is evil, the actualy rice i mean, I think the pushing it as a shiny new convenience food is taking the P. That's all.

[suzywong]

and don't you mean Uncle Toby?
or is that just hicky WA?

[iris66]

hi there - just to add my tuppenceworth... I don't think it's the rice that's inherently evil, it's the microwaving. I read a site once about Russian testing of microwaves and basically it concluded that it took the "soul" outof the food. Energetically speaking, the vitamin & mineral molecules are still there but they are "empty" . Will go & try to find a site now (sorry if I've added to the quandry but the article so moved me (and made absolute sense - I work with energy) that I don't own a microwave & avoid microwaved foods.

[iris66]

have a look at this

[iris66]

sorry - meant this about the dangers of microwave cooking

[pinotgrigio]

SW - It's Uncle Ben's in the UK. I've just realised, do they even sell the Express Rice in Oz? I haven't looked (because, of course, I don't use it ).

Iris. Thanks! Puts my concerns with the rice into perspective!

Nonetheless, I'm still interested in the corporate Gumph that Uncle Ben/Toby will deliver about the sanctity of their micro rice.

[SoupDragon]

Is it not simply pre cooked, sealed in it's bag, and you're effectively just reheating it?

[NotQuiteCockney]

Oh, not mercola again. Does that site contain every single wacky new age medical belief?

I find "instant" rice gross because a) it's not brown rice and b) they cook all the rice into goo, and they reshape it into fake rice grains. Which is a little disturbing.

Reheating (home-cooked) rice is safe, as long as you're careful about it.

[suzywong]

hellfire, is that realy what they do with it?

I know MM's microbiologist dh says it's wrong, but I agree with you, re-heating rice in the microwave, really rice that you've knitted yourself, is fine

[NotQuiteCockney]

No no, I'm pretty sure they reshape the grains. If you look at instant rice grains up close, they have no internal structure, and they're not normal rice shapes.

[iris66]

Probably - but it was the best link i could find in a hurry for the formal scientific research that has been carried out on the effects of microwaves & microwaved foods on human health.

[NotQuiteCockney]

Hmm, I've done a websearch, and it looks like I was wrong: apparently instant rice is made by cooking rice, and then drying it out again. Here is a link on it.

[pinotgrigio]

NQC. OMG, is that what they do?? Ewww. I KNEW it was evil.

That's nearly on a par with those pre-packaged slices of 'chicken' which are transported around factories in liquid form and then reshaped.

[pinotgrigio]

Sorry. Crossed post. I'll go and look at your link now .

I was all excited about being right then.

[pinotgrigio]

NQD - Are you sure that's micro rice? It looks like they still mean rice that you cook in water, but very quickly? It's not very clear.