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    RT Vol. 3, No. 1 Rice Publishing? Don't Make Me Pilaf!

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    Rice Today
    Rice publishing? Don’t make me pilaf! The original backpacker explores the world of rice that thrives between crop science and cookbooks L onely Planet Publications, the Australian guidebook company that found success in serving up Asia — and then the world — to budget travelers, will soon publish a glossy coffeetable book entitled Rice Trails. “This is not in any sense a recipe book,” stresses author Tony Wheeler, who, with photographer Richard l’Anson, journeyed to 13 countries, 12 of them i

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    RT Vol. 3, No. 1 Rice Publishing? Don't Make Me Pilaf!

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    Rice Today
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    Rice publishing? Don’t make me pilaf! The original backpacker explores the world of rice that thrives between crop science and cookbooks L onely Planet Publications, the Australian guidebook company that found success in serving up Asia — and then the world — to budget travelers, will soon publish a glossy coffeetable book entitled Rice Trails. “This is not in any sense a recipe book,” stresses author Tony Wheeler, who, with photographer Richard l’Anson, journeyed to 13 countries, 12 of them i

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    RT Vol. 3, No. 1 Rice publishing? Don't make me pilaf!

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    Rice publishing? Don’t make me pilaf! The original backpacker explores the world of rice that thrives between crop science and cookbooks L onely Planet Publications, the Australian guidebook company that found success in serving up Asia — and then the world — to budget travelers, will soon publish a glossy coffeetable book entitled Rice Trails. “This is not in any sense a recipe book,” stresses author Tony Wheeler, who, with photographer Richard l’Anson, journeyed to 13 countries, 12 of them i

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    64 views1 page

    RT Vol. 3, No. 1 Rice Publishing? Don't Make Me Pilaf!

    Uploaded by

    Rice Today
    Rice publishing? Don’t make me pilaf! The original backpacker explores the world of rice that thrives between crop science and cookbooks L onely Planet Publications, the Australian guidebook company that found success in serving up Asia — and then the world — to budget travelers, will soon publish a glossy coffeetable book entitled Rice Trails. “This is not in any sense a recipe book,” stresses author Tony Wheeler, who, with photographer Richard l’Anson, journeyed to 13 countries, 12 of them i

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
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    Rice publishing? Dont make me pilaf!

    The original backpacker explores the world of rice that thrives between crop science and cookbooks

    onely Planet Publications, the Australian guidebook company that found success in serving up Asia and then the world to budget travelers, will soon publish a glossy coffeetable book entitled Rice Trails. This is not in any sense a recipe book, stresses author Tony Wheeler, who, with photographer Richard lAnson, journeyed to 13 countries, 12 of them in Asia, to document the story of rice from field to table. Nor is it academic. We wanted to tell the human story of rice and show how it differed from country to country and yet in many ways stayed the same. I can pinpoint exactly where and when I first fell in love with rice, begins the authors introduction to Rice Trails. It was in East Java in 74. I was in my mid-20s, recently married, and my wife, Maureen, and I had been traveling

    Rice Today January 2004

    LONELY PLANET (2)

    through Indonesia for several months. Id certainly seen (and eaten!) lots of rice by that time. I was familiar with beautiful rice terraces in Nepal and many other Asian countries, but in the country around Yogyakarta everything came together. The Wheelers had earlier traveled overland from London to Australia, a journey that produced, in 1973, the first Lonely Planet publication, the seminal shoestring travelers guide Across Asia on the Cheap. When everything came together around Yogyakarta, the couple were researching their second guide, Southeast Asia on a Shoestring, one of the most popular guidebooks ever published. Today, Lonely Planet employs about 150 authors around the globe and more than 400 office staffers in Melbourne, Oakland, London and Paris. Rice Trails may appear timed to cash in on International Year of Rice 2004, but Messrs. Wheeler and lAnson started their project more than 2 years years before the United Nations declared the year tag. The 160-page book, which will measure 24 30 cm and retail for US$40, is expected to be available in March. Richard and I have both traveled extensively in Asia, says Mr. Wheeler. So we were aware of the enormous influence of rice, not just as the worlds most important food but also culturally, economi-

    TONY WHEELER gets his feet wet in Bali, as Richard l'Anson (below) relaxes on a rice barge in Dhaka.

    cally and visually. The book even covers rice tourism, those places where hotels or restaurants have been strategically sited to take in views of rice paddies. The book starts with the history of rice and its contribution to the growth of civilization in Asia. Following a tour of the ricescapes of Bali, Bangladesh, Philippines, Nepal and Australia, four chapters detail how rice is grown, harvested, processed and sold in countries at various levels of development. A chapter on the uses of rice takes in Japanese tatami mats as well as the countless forms in which rice products reach the table. Next comes a chapter on the place of rice in ritual and religious belief. Finally, a chapter on rice research takes readers to IRRI and the Central Soil Salinity Research Center in Karnal, India. Better rice plants, improved techniques and superior equipment are all part of the story, but at the end of the day its the rice farmer who is the key to the whole puzzle, writes Mr. Wheeler. Fortunately, IRRI and other rice researchers are uniform in their praise for farmers adaptability and interest in adopting new techniques and better plants. [] The quick spread of IRRIs new varieties is a prime indicator of the close attention farmers pay to their productivity. 35

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