What I learn while doing laundry in the laundromat or rice is not indigenous to Mexico

I like to read whilst I do laundry at our 15th street laundromat.

I found a New York Times Styles mag from November 2021 (sometimes I hoard old magazines) which I kept because of its rice article. I don't usually pay attention to these as they have a lot of ads in them, epecially for luxury brands that do not compute with me.

My laundromat on 15th street

So I learned that rice is not an indigenous crop to Mexio even though all the Mexican restaurants that I have been to here in the US have rice on their menus. It is a colonial crop brought in by the Conquistadors. An interloper. So when the writer asks one Oxacan about rice, his response is telling: "Por que arroz?" Or in other words: "We are not Asian." Actually, the guy said, "chino" as in Chinese. Well, sure, rice was the staple food during the Sung dynasty circa 13th century.

Photo credit: Stefan Ruiz

Rice came to Mexico in the 1500's with the Spanish colonizers, think Cortes and de Alvarado who also brought with them a mindset for subjugation and destruction. So no wonder the question: "Por que arroz?" Because in Mexico corn is queen.

But I don't ask, "por que arroz?" But I have been known to ask, "donde esta el arroz?"