The World Is Running Out Of Rice. What Will Asians Do?

It is a good point that rice apparently is a super high maintenance bitch. This just in there is going to be a global rice shortage very, very soon. Now, seeing as that Asia is responsible for 90% of the consumption and production of rice. What does this mean for Asians, David? Oh, man, rice is life. I think that that's why this is going viral on some circles of the Internet, but particularly Asian circles on the Internet. Andrew, what is the cause of this potential 20 once in 20 year rice shortage? Yeah. So the news article just came out and it really mostly attributes it to the Ukraine war, which is messing up the supply chain for wheat because Ukraine obviously produces a lot of wheat. And now people are going to have a higher demand for rice. But rice production is kind of at a 20 year low because of temperatures in Asia and also a lot of flooding in Pakistan, which, you know, between China and Pakistan, there's actually a lot of rice being produced. So basically, rice supply is not going up, but rice demand is going to be going up. So now people are afraid of that price hike. Now, a lot of people are questioning how real is this rice shortage or is it manufactured by the elites up there to make profits? The media. Anyway, guys, we're about to break it down. Make sure you like subscribe, turn on your notifications. And we got to do some quick rice one on one. Then we're going to get to the Internet comments, our own takeaways real quick. Andrew, I'm just going to break it down for people. Here are the top 10 rice producing countries in the world. It goes China at 28 percent, India at 23 percent. Number three, we got a sleeper pick, a very wet country, Bangladesh. Andrew, then it goes Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Philippines, Brazil. That's a sleeper pick. Cambodia and coming in at number 11, the USA. Andrew, let's go to some quick, quick rice one on one. Why do Asians eat so much rice? Because I think a lot of Asian Americans, we grow up eating rice every day. Some of us eat it multiple times a day, up to three times a day. But we don't know anything about it. Yeah, I mean, maybe now is a good time to take a minute to appreciate rice. This is rice appreciation day right now. I would say, I mean, as far as why Asians eat a lot of rice, first of all, I think it's delicious. And I think that a lot of parts of Asia are primed to grow it. You know, like there are rice farms in America like Arkansas. You know, I'm growing some rice just like, you know, I might not be wearing the hat quite like them, but I'm growing rice, too. So you can grow rice in Asia a lot. And maybe because labor is kind of cheap in Asia. So like it's very laborious to use rice and obviously takes a lot of water. So I guess maybe that's why. Yeah, I don't think anybody fully a hundred percent out of a hundred knows why staple crops took place in certain continents. But I just think when like humans were developing civilization, it there clearly was a difference. Because in northern South America, there was maize, acorns, potatoes, sweet potatoes, as you could see what was eaten by the Native Americans. Right. Africa had millet, barley, yams, et cetera. Europe had oats and wheat and Asia had rice and secondary had wheat. They use a lot of wheat in noodles. Yes. And I'll tell you this. Every society in the world, they need their carbohydrate that they can farm. Agriculture is very, very important. That is the caloric intake to survive. You need a base carb. Yeah. And also farming. You need a farm so that you don't have to rely on being a hunter and gatherer. And if Asians eat so much rice, why are they so skinny? Yeah, because I don't know. They're so so for me, I am. By the way, Asians are getting fat in 2023. I see it a lot more now than I used to even. But I think what happened is that a lot of Asians who used to eat a lot of rice, they were also very active and they would maybe work blue collar jobs. Listen, you can. You're saying they needed to eat the rice to have the energy to pick the rice and eat a bunch of bread and take in a bunch of rice. If you're just working all day, you can take it. But a lot of people, they're being more lethargic now. So now the rice is is just extra calories. They're just eating the rice and then tapping on the computer. Yeah. Yeah. What are the major different types of rice that are eaten around Asia? There are 10 types, but there's primarily three main ones that make up the bulk of the consumption. Yeah, I guess the three main types is so there's basmati rice, which is very light over in like South Asia and then Central Asia. Right. You know, like in Biryani and you know, pull out, you know, you deal with taking my salary, not sticky. Yeah, it's very fluffy and like flies everywhere. And then there's the short grain kind of wetter, stickier rice that they primarily eat in like Japan and Korea and parts of China. But, you know, Japanica rice, Japanica, right? That's what I looked up. I didn't know. Listen, guys, I had to do some research, too, because I just I just ate rice growing up. I didn't know anything about it. Yeah. And then there's like the long grain jasmine rice. So I think that that's a lot in Southeast Asia. There's also a mid length cow rose and there's a bunch of other ones, obviously, like in Korea, they eat the purple multigrain rice and there's forbidden black rice. And then now there's brown rice, which is delicious. I eat more brown rice in my life. Growing up and what were our experiences with the rice? Like what type of rice family were we? Because we were definitely into it. But I wouldn't say at a ten out of ten level, like some of my friends, families that were Asian, they probably had it three times every single day. Yeah, I'd say we had it once a day. I would say a lot of our friends had the rice cooker going throughout the day. Like you could just walk into their house and then they would have warm rice ready to go. I think, you know, it was always interesting. We had tatung and then tiger later. Oh, the rice cooker. We never had the jojirushi until later. And then the kaku as well. Now, you know, what was interesting is like growing up in school, a lot of non Asians would always be like, hey, dude, do you really eat rice every day for dinner? And then for a second, I was like, yo, this is such a stupid question. What do you mean? What's wrong with rice? I eat it every day. Yeah. But then I realized that a lot of American families, they don't eat a single carb with every single meal. Like they don't do. It's probably corn and potatoes, right? Yeah, but more what? But they weren't eating mashed potatoes every meal. They weren't eating a loaf of bread every single meal. Like I think they eat it more than Asians. But it wasn't at the table, right? The staple of their dinner table. Well, they probably alternate between corn, potatoes and bread. Yeah, right. I guess in pasta, whatever it was at hometown buffet. And, you know, rice is a big deal because somebody said Asian moms used to treat it like retro Jordans. They used to flex on each other with fancy rice cookers. You know, they got the fuzzy Nero from Zojirushi. And not only that, Andrew, in 1997, when Tie My Shoe dropped the AZN Pride Got Rice song, the logo was a guy with a rice hat eating rice. Yeah. What do you think are what do you think about eating rice just with soy sauce and like an egg and spam? Right. Everybody does that in Asia. But there's also garlic butter rice, which is a Filipino thing. Yeah, it's delicious. Both are delicious, man. I mean, they have MSG. I actually think the garlic rice from Philippines, Andrew, that's the most underrated delicious rice in Asia. Low key. A lot of people don't know is Filipino rice. Very, very delicious, man. Can you eat rice with chopsticks or is a spoon better? I used to hear this debate all the time. And I remember there was one more of a I don't forgive my language, a whitewashed Asian girl who used to criticize it on the bus to school. And then there was another guy who was really in the animes and, you know, all the otakus and he would always be for her about this. Let's just be clear. Chopsticks are an amazing tool for a lot of things, but it's not the most efficient for eating rice. But maybe but maybe it helps you eat the rice a little bit slower and in smaller amounts so that you don't overeat and stuff yourself because you don't think about that. Only eat to 80% food. That is the thing. Yeah, because, you know, like if all the grains of rice like always fall off, then you're not going to eat too fast. Yeah, but obviously, I'm not sure. Yeah, it depends on what type of rice, how it was prepared. But yeah, I could see a spoon or a fork. Yeah, you as well. It's more efficient, let's be honest. Yeah. So let's get into the comments section. Somebody said, oh, great. A global rice shortage. It's not like half the world doesn't rely on it to hit their daily caloric intake. And by the way, most of that half is in Asia. But like you said, they have increasing rice consumption in Africa right now. Yeah, all of rice from the Nigerians. And now if this is a real rice shortage, it's going to hurt the lower middle class, lower class and the poor people the most. To be honest, because this is where they're going to see the biggest hike in price. Like people, maybe in America, like maybe maybe this rice shortage doesn't really affect us as much. Or you're saying richer Asians in Asia, not as price sensitive, right? Yeah. Or maybe they weren't even eating rice anyway as their main staple. Maybe they're eating brown rice and quinoa. I don't know. Somebody says jokes on you. This Asian already switched to keto. So I'm not going to get impacted by this. Yeah, I do think a lot of Asians who grew up eating white rice are eating less white rice. Moving on to number two, Andrew, we got the conspiracies. Wow. Other people are like, wow, the global elite Davos Bill Gates trying to just do pump and dumps or control our minds, whether it was through the fake egg price pump and dump. Now they're doing it to rice. What are they going to do next? Beans? They're just trying to take control. Yeah. And then there's another conspiracy that's like, oh, China's trying to push. Yeah. You know, like for the last decade, we were trying to convince our citizens to eat more potatoes and less rice because potatoes are easier to farm, and that would help solve the global food crisis. You do not need to pick a potato. A potato is already picked when it is born. The potato picks you. But yeah, I mean, I think that there's a lot of reasons. I don't know if this was a ploy from China or a ploy of the American elite or the Illuminati to just make a profit or to hike everything higher in price for the rest of our lives. And I it sucks. It sucks to think. I don't know. I tend to believe that a lot of the conspiracies are just like messed up market dynamics that are right in front of your eyes. I don't really think you need a global elite to like come together with like hoodies on to like plan this stuff out. It just happens because that's like the system we all bought into. Somebody said they want to raise the prices and starve the peasants for the amusement of the elites. But back to China switching to potatoes. Andrew, right now they got two doses to dope. And do you think realistically they're going to be able to replace their rice consumption with potatoes? Because everybody knows if you've ever seen more of the poor people in China, the migrant workers and are oftentimes for lunch like Wu Fan, they'll have a big thing of rice with just some roti on top, like a little bit of a few strips of meat and a few a lot of veggies. Yeah, it's like their whole meal for lunch. And then they got to go build a building. Listen, I'm telling you guys, and this is like a weird pitch, I guess, to China, if anybody in China is listening to help your citizens eat more potatoes, you have to somehow serve mashed potatoes like that is the only way because mashed potatoes is easy, right? You just take a potato and mash potatoes is essentially kind of like takes the form of rice where you can top it with anything, guys. And but you might need to make it like more Asian tasting. Yeah, I don't know. I'm just saying if you are trying to push potatoes, you got to introduce more potato dishes. I don't see enough potato dishes. I see a thin sliced potatoes for like, you know, barbecue and like hot pot. Sometimes. Yeah, you could get it at the choir spot, right? Right. But then and then I see some like Yunnan or like Sichuan spots serving the spicy fries, the crinkle cut fries. But what else? You got to make some mashed potatoes. Yeah, I think they need to get a bunch of chefs and a bunch of celebrities together to do almost like a deco's or a kung fu. But like these are fast food chains in China, by the way, but with mashed potatoes. Somebody said, what about the rice farms in America, man? Are these they about to come up? And then someone said, whatever we do, if they got a rice shortage over there, don't ship them any rice, let them eat mice. Guys, I did not know that they had rice farms in Arkansas and the farmers look like this. They're like, yeah, well, you know, I've been farming rice. You know, I don't really quite wear the hat like they do. I got a different hat on. But, you know, out here in the Arkansas, we we grow in ourselves some long grain. I got the forgies on the Jeep. Red bottom. Somebody said we need to stop pretending like we can feed everyone in the world. We got to promote new recipes and promote sustainability. Yeah, I do think that this definitely if this is a real shortage that is due to these factors that are beyond anybody's control, I do think that we really definitely need to think about like food alternatives. And I guess what would be the food alternatives to rice? It would be quinoa, be farro, farro. I mean, I don't know. Cauliflower. Right. It is true that rice is very what? Phosphate water intensive. Yeah, very, very, very much. You know, you got you got to put water on rice to cook it again. So the rice is sipping water its whole life to get cooked, picked. And then you got to re-inject water again. Yeah, well, that's why it's so freaking delicious. That's a good point. It is a good point that rice apparently is a super high maintenance bitch. Who would have known? Yeah. Oh, yeah. I'm rice. I need water to grow. And then somebody's got to pick me up with their fingers. And then when you bag me and then you want to cook me at home, you got to give me a lot more water. And then I might dry out after two days and then you got to water me some more before you put me in the microwave. God damn. Apparently, growing good rice, Andrew, is like growing the finest zaza piffery on planet Earth. Interestingly enough, quinoa in its raw form, Andrew, looks like weed. So, yeah, there's farofa, there's farro. I just don't think anybody over the age of 50 in Asia is switching, bro. Or even over the age of 30. I don't know. Somebody said, what are these biblical plagues? What's next? Locusts. And someone said, yeah, but if the locusts come, we can eat them for protein and stir fry them because they look like land lobsters. Yeah, I'm pretty sure if you season and deep fry locusts, then their exoskeleton becomes very crispy, their wings are crispy and then the inside becomes gooey, almost like a crab head. So apparently we need new quinoa and we need new stir fried locust recipes. Yo, quinoa doesn't work in fried rice. So quinoa is too fluffy. It flies everywhere. I hate it. Have you ever seen quinoa? Have you spilled quinoa before, David? And it just keeps rolling. It does. It just keeps rolling, man. Man, I don't know. Somebody got to invent a new grain and like hybrid it or something. Sticky quinoa, please. Somebody said in South Carolina, some farmers actually dump the rice into the water to keep the price stabilized. Oh, somebody said pasta nowadays due to the factory commercialized system is also a very cheap alternative. Oh, pasta because it's weed and then people know how to grow weed. So now there needs to be like hydroponic rice, man. Yeah, I guess rice is like you said, Andrew, high maintenance. It's very climate sensitive, but it's also at the mercy of the urban sprawl because it takes up a lot of space. I remember growing up, Andrew. Yeah, yeah. He used to always tell me, make sure you eat all your rice, because that means somebody spent their time to pick each grain individually. Oh, man. By the way, guys, I'm not dissing on rice. I still love rice, but I do understand the difficulties of it. Yeah, it's high maintenance. Somebody said rice is not even healthy for you, especially the white polished rice that's in the factory that everybody eats. No, but I think, again, listen, you can intake a lot of rice if you're working very hard and you're burning off a lot of calories. But the thing is about nowadays, a lot of people are not burning calories. So they're not burning off the rice. I don't know what if people switch to multigrain rice, like at a lot of Korean soon to boost spots. They got it or the forbidden black Chinese. That rice is pretty good. I think. I don't know. I don't know. I know those are healthier than white polished rice, but I don't know how much more. Right, right. I know brown rice is healthier, but how much better? I don't know. But I don't like the taste. Yeah, the taste is very it's not as good as the white one. Actually, brown rice for certain dishes I prefer. But yeah, most most of the times you still need white. All right, Andrew, let's get into our takeaways. Is this just media fear and FUD and everybody, you know, nowadays the media psychos, they try to get clicks and engagement by freaking you out and exaggerating things. I think you're going to know when you go to restaurants and they hire the price of rice or I hear my restaurant friends start complaining that the right the price of rice went up. So, again, I'm not sure if it's going to really affect America. Maybe the prices are already high enough and they're fixed, but it's definitely going to hurt the people in the poor countries. And that's what's going to suck. And that's what I'm kind of worried about. So I just hope they treat the farmers better because of the price is going to go up. But the farmers in like, let's just say China, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines are still poor. That would be messed up. Yeah. Also, another reason why, you know, rice is so cheap is because I don't think the farmers get paid a lot, like the price of labor on the on the rice farm lanes is pretty low. I'm pretty sure. Yeah, for sure. Support the farmers in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh. Somebody said, could what do you think is realistic about the Asians being persuaded to use rice alternative grains? Hmm. I don't know. I mean, these have yet to be seen, but I know that there's a lot of recipes online of like fried quinoa or like, oh, replace your rice with cauliflower rice. A little bits of cauliflower. It doesn't fully work. I'm just saying, but it is true that these other grains, they're grown with like less water and I guess they're healthier. So maybe. No, I'm sure there's a future in them. I think, like you said, you need to get eight here, celebs and chefs and maybe like private equity or venture capital guys or whatever that you need to put it together to like build, build it out to create the demand. Will Asians be able to ever let go of rice? Or is it just part of Asian culture that will just never like, well, considering that Asian civilization in the eastern hemisphere was literally based off rice to survive and build everything unlikely because that's actually how the societies were structured initially. That's like how East Asian society developed Confucianism because everybody had to collaborate on the rice fields and they were large. And that's why people are peaceful and harmonious in Asia. It seems like you're either a rice eater, you're either a barbarian or you're like a vegan. That's what it just feels like right now. Anyways, guys, let me know in the comments down below what you think about this looming rice shortage. Do you think it's real? Do you think it's going to affect you? Are you stockpiling rice right now? Also, have you cut down on your consumption of rice? Personally, throughout my life, I have. But I did just eat some rice today, which was very delicious. And I still enjoyed it. But I just I just try not to eat too much. I'm going to have a lot different thoughts every time I look down on a bowl of rice now. Welcome to Rice 101, guys. Appreciate your rice. As you guys know, Hot Pop Boys always breaking everything down. Sweet to savory, silly to serious. Let us know what you think in the comments section below. Is it overblown? Is it real? What are your some favorite non rice dishes? Until next time, we're the Hot Pop Boys. We out. Peace. Peace.