Purple Rice and the Limits of Globalization

Chinese black rice (Photo credit)

Also known as Chinese black rice, or "forbidden rice", this grain is not only very healthy, but has a history of delineating social status.  In ancient China, the grain was only to be eaten by the Emperor.  In today's world, globalization is the norm, and anyone who can afford it can get Chinese black rice on the Internet.  But being available to more of a global audience is not the same as being available to more people.  Purple rice is a prime example of this.

It has been said that with the Internet and social media, we live in a "flattened" world.  This is not true.  Instead, we just built a whole bunch of drawbridges crisscrossing our world, with toll booths.  If you can't afford to pay the "toll", or the cost needed to access social media and to make use of it, then you still are isolated.


1. By Anna Frodesiak (Own work) [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. 

The Origins of Falafel

Falafel is a food eaten in the Middle East (a blanket term that I despise, but in this case appropriate).  It is also eaten in the food stands of cities like New York, Chicago, Portland, and others, probably because it actually is a true "Middle Eastern" food, and most Westerners are used to hearing the term.  Therefore, it is marketable to Westerners, and vendors can be honest about which cuisine it belongs to.



It is often said that falafel originated in Egypt, then spread through the Levant.  To our tastes, this seems accurate.  But there is another form of falafel, one that originated on the Indian subcontinent.  It is known to many as "Indian falafel", but this is a misnomer because falafel is made with chickpeas, and Indian falafel (actually known as "ambode") is made with yellow lentils.  It has different flavors, mostly because they use different spices.

Falafel (Photo credit)

They are made in a similar fashion, though.  They both have similar textures, which lend themselves to be easily mashed.  After the cooks do this, they add certain spices.  They are then breaded and fried into a certain shape.  Falafels are usually made into round balls, whereas ambode is usually slightly flattened.

Ambode (Photo credit)

This may suggest that ambode was invented first.  Falafel in Egypt was probably invented 1,000 years ago.  Ambode was invented in the 6th century AD.  My guess is that falafel was adapted from the preparation of ambode.  It has been established that Arab seafarers regularly traded with the Indian subcontinent, so it could have happened through trade.

Also, lentils thrive in cooler climates.  They have been cultivated in semi-arid areas such as parts of Egypt, but have lower yields.  Lentils grown in Egypt would have been expensive, and more so if imported from India.  Chickpeas would have been a better substitute.  After all, the chickpea was known to Ancient Egypt.  And with that, the falafel was born.


Photo credit:


1. By Elias Bröms, http://www.meatinfo.org (http://www.meatinfo.org/alternativ/) [CC-BY-SA-2.0-de (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/de/deed.en), GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons.

2. By kuttibalu, original at [http://flickr.com/photos/balamurugan/515816151/sizes/l/], photo obtained from [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/archive/c/c3/20080913061542!Masalvadai.jpg], via Wikimedia Commons.