Rice Hoarding

What! There is a shortage of rice??? OMG. Rice is my carb of choice. I dashed downstairs to the pantry to heft the bags of rice and peer into canisters. I had lots of arborio rice, plenty of medium-grained and too much long-grained. There was enough basmati to get through at least 2 dinner parties, half a bag of tired looking brown rice, 2 small bags of forbidden rice and some wild rice, which is not really a rice at all. But horrors! I was almost out of Jasmine rice, my favorite type. Given the current situation and all the talk on the news of rice hoarding…where could I get another bag? My favorite Asian store in Hartsdale? Or maybe I should go to the grocery? It was not a desperate situation, should I wait…or not…should I get in line to buy my 4 bags? Where would I store it? In the freezer? (I had a bag of basmati get all weevily on me once.) I took a deep breath. I decided not.

I don’t understand the hoarding thing. Back in the day, people hoarded toilet paper when the state started to tax it. Heck, people were hoarding all kinds of paper products. I have seen people buying up water and bread and flour but never oatmeal or wine or pickled okra in the jar. And ultimately what is the point? Yes food is becoming expensive but most of us could lose some weight, so let’s take this opportunity to consider our portions, eat smaller meals and get healthier in the process. Meanwhile if you see a large bag of Jasmine rice, could you pick me up a bag or two or….