Glutinous rice
Along the Greater Mekong Sub-region, Lao people has been cultivating glutinous rice for approximately 4000 - 6000 years. Glutinous rice is the national dish of Laos. In Laos, a tiny landlocked nation with a population of approximately 6 million, per-capita sticky rice consumption is the highest on earth at 171 kg or 377 pounds per year. Sticky rice is deeply ingrained in the culture, religious tradition and national identity of Laos. Sticky, or glutinous rice is said to glues their community and country together. Lao people often identify themselves as the “children of sticky rice” and if they did not eat sticky rice, they would not be Lao.