Broken rice grains were once a by-product of the milling process. They were seen as worthless. Nowadays, they work deliciously well with a smoky BBQ pork chop or mixed with some fried egg and sauces. The soft yet crunchy rice is a comfort to fans of Get best Vietnamese cuisine food as you wish Vietnamese cuisine, used from downtown Toronto to back home in Vietnam.
<p>Broken rice began to be eaten by poor rice farmers, only out of necessity. When there wasn’t other food on the table, broken rice could be brought in. Because it was a poor person’s food, stigma went along with it for years. Broken rice grains wouldn’t sell to anyone for years but they kept families healthy and fed throughout this same time period. For centuries, farmers in the Vietnamese industry ate what others wouldn’t.
In the first half of the twentieth century, things began to change albeit slowly. It was then in the 1980s that food shortages began to affect Vietnamese households. In large part due to these broken rice grains in Vietnam as well as the country’s Doi Moi renovation policy, the country foregone a near-famine in the late 1980s and by 1997 was the world’s second-largest rice exporter. The broken rice grains were deemed not suitable for export, as they were seen as ‘damaged’, throughout this period. Instead, it was Vietnamese families who ate them and so did restaurants.
By the late 1990s, broken rice was standardized as a part of Vietnamese culture cooking. It’s so popular and in-demand now that restaurants are actually having to break good full-grain rice to achieve that broken grain feel. Why is broken rice in Vietnamese cooking so delicious? Consumers and families love it. The rice is soft and succulent but doesn’t mush. It sort of strikes a middle ground between sticky rice and regular rice.
All things considered, rice may be Vietnam’s proudest crop. Although it is one of the toughest grains to grow, it’s nutritional value is high. It’s easily broken and although full grains are more valuable, broken grains thankfully no longer go wasted. Broken grains are eaten not only by families but they’re fed to animals, turned into alcohol, and even used in some cosmetics products. Broken rice also cooks faster and are better at absorbing sauce than full-grain rice. Simply put, you couldn’t have contemporary Vietnamese cuisine in Canada, Toronto, and territories abroad without broken rice.
Broken rice is a beautiful food, carried everywhere from Walmart to restaurants. This just goes to show the value of what once was a food by-product. When hunger forced our population to creativity, we fed ourselves with what turned out to be a highly nutritious, quality rice. Now we bring our Vietnamese broken rice recipes to Toronto, Ontario.
The best Vietnamese food in Toronto comes from TorontoPHO. We use broken rice frequently across several dishes, blending historic family recipes with Canadian influence. See authentic Vietnamese dishes next to vegan and vegetarian options, other East Asian menu items, and Canadian favourites. Are you looking for Vietnamese classics like pho or want a lovely stir fry complete with the meats of your choosing? Visit TorontoPHO today.
