Unlike other grains, which are commonly used as an ingredient in processed foods like breads, breakfast cereals or biscuits, rice needs no introduction. Not only is it the world's largest crop and the staple food of over half the world's population, but because it is usually eaten as a whole food, it is safe to say that rice is the best-known grain on earth. Like all cereals, the rice plant is a gigantic grass, but a grass with a twist.
Rice is semi-aquatic, meaning that it can grow in water and also on dry land.
To find out how, take a look at rice production. Roll your cursor over each topic to view the image Click here to find out more about cereal grasses and the structure of grains. It's difficult to trace the origins of rice cultivation and several theories have been put forward. In one theory, cultivated rice began in South East Asia, in the early part of the second millennium BC . In many parts of Asia, rice production has such a historically significant role that the words for 'rice' and 'food' are exactly the same.