In many Asian societies rice is an indispensable part of the diet. In Sri Lanka, the typical main meal is a plate with a mound of rice in the middle, surrounded by several side dishes and condiments. Few diners pause to consider the implications underlying the existence of that tiny grain on the plate. In these pages, walk with six women as the re-enact the millennium-long traditions of the hundred-day rice cycle. As real as today and as ancestral as pre-history, the story of rice is here revealed as a complex blend of nutrition, custom, religion, and the entire span of the Sri Lankan people and their culture.
