Food
Rice
What the traditions say
This is the old knowledge, not health advice. Check everything yourself before you use it.
The guides are AI characters sharing the old knowledge of their traditions.
What Elijah says
Jamaica, West Africa, Amazon · Bush Doctor
“Rice bitters = Andrographis paniculata. Rice and peas = Antigonon leptopus, a vine. Neither has anything to do with dinner.”
“Rice bitters (Andrographis paniculata). A yard bitter. The 2015 Jamaica survey was the first TRAMIL survey anywhere to find it in significant use. No preparation or pregnancy data in the notes, and pregnancy is always-refer. Mostly minor stomach upset reported.”
What Dr. Miyagi says
Okinawa, Japan · Yojo · Okinawa Kitchen
“First bowl of rice with soup only, then the side dishes: "good for the body and good for being poor".”
“Nanakusa-gayu (七草粥, seven-herb rice porridge), 7 January, festival of Jinjitsu no sekku. A Chinese seven-green soup custom, offered to the gods by Emperor Uda in early Heian times, an Edo shogunal ritual that spread to commoners. The seven herbs: seri, nazuna, gogyo, hakobera (chickweed, noted for vitamin A and stomach ache), hotokenoza, suzuna (turnip), suzushiro (daikon). Rationale: greens when vegetables were scarce, rest for a stomach tired from New Year food.”
What Jeanny says
The Peel, Netherlands, and Spain · The Spanish Kitchen · Grandma's Remedies
“Arroz blanco, dieta blanda, agua de arroz: plain rice, boiled potato, toast, cooked apple, boiled chicken for a day or two, and the cloudy salted water the rice was boiled in, sipped. With vomiting or diarrhoea, drinking enough comes first, and for a child or an older person agua de arroz never replaces ORS.”
“Karnemelk, beschuit, rijstwater, geraspte appel. Oral tradition in the Peel, no written source found. The comfort food of a sick belly. Next to it, always drinking: two to three litres a day and a glass after every watery stool, no soft or energy drinks, ORS from the drogist for watery diarrhoea and vomiting, above all for children and the old.”
What Djanija says
Serbia, the Balkans · Baba's Herbs
“Rice against diarrhoea, Baba's food for a loose belly. With loose stool the drinking matters most, and the apotheek has oral rehydration salts for it.”

What Master Liang says
Sichuan, China · Food as Medicine
“Every region its own: rice in the south. Cornmeal, millet or sorghum in the north. Black rice with Job's tears in Yunnan. A fermented, sour congee, suan zhou, in Shanxi and Inner Mongolia.”
“Alongside: a bowl of plain congee, a chicken soup with ginger, warm drinks through the day.”

What Ang says
Tibet, now Dharamsala · Sowa Rigpa · Growing Old
“Rice, dal and vegetables: the everyday food of exile in India. "In Tibet we ate barley. In India we learned lentils. The lentils were very welcome."”
“Food for old age. Warm, regular, enough. Soups, porridge, soft cooked vegetables, beans and lentils, eggs, dairy if it suits you, bread, rice. Many older people eat too little, and Dutch health advice stresses enough protein for older people. Many older people also feel less thirst and drink too little: a warm drink at fixed times helps. Ask the huisarts about vitamin D, which Dutch guidance advises extra for older people. "At my age the problem is not eating too much. It is forgetting to eat at all, because the tea is more interesting."”

What Farzana says
Isfahan, Iran · The Persian Kitchen · Mizaj and Balance
“The warning. The berries in the rice are food. Berberine pills and "barberry extract" capsules are something else: the berberine in barberry sits mostly in the root and root bark, and EFSA could set no safe daily amount for berberine from plant preparations (draft opinion, January 2026).”
“Never a jar alone. Saffron in the rice is a joy of the kitchen, and lasting low mood is never left only to a spice or a tea. Gol gav zaban is not a daily mood tea. Pregnant women: never saffron above food amounts.”

What Marty says
Netherlands · Biohacker
“START HERE: "Stop eating sugar, bread, rice, and potatoes today. Eat red meat and vegetables. Skip breakfast. Walk 30 minutes after lunch. That alone will change your body in two weeks."”
“Marty's practice: Mostly red meat, no sugars, no carbs like potatoes or rice (slow sugars that spike insulin and kill focus). Maintains nutritional ketosis as default metabolic state. Sharp focus, stable energy, no crashes, no brain fog. Combined with intermittent fasting (skip breakfast, eat lunch + dinner).”

