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Edible Archives Project Aims To Revive Hundreds Of Vanishing Indian Rice Strains
by applewood

    India is known to have cultivated thousands of varieties of rice, and references to rice — also combined with vegetables and meat, an ancient precursor to biryani, which came from Persia — have been found in Sangam literature from the 5th century B.C. Even a century ago, communities across India grew their own strains of rice, and consumed them according to the needs of the season or the cuisine.

    During the Green Revolution in the 1960s, when machinery replaced manual work and "high-yield variety" seeds were promoted, agricultural output increased dramatically, but a few hybrid rice strains took over from hundreds of indigenous ones.

    The Edible Archives Project aims to showcase the sheer range of rice varieties grown in India, and throw the spotlight specifically on those which have almost vanished from the country's foodscape or are grown only in small communities.