#Rice - PART I - paths to (& from) Portugal
Sweet rice, seafood rice, tomato rice ... so many recipes! Rice is the second most produced cereal in Portugal, behind maize. The country is the fourth largest producer in Europe & is among the leaders in consumption (Photo: M. Brandão)

In global History, #rice crosses with the Portuguese in several ways. Originally from Asia, it was possibly brought by the Arabs in the 8th century, or perhaps a little later, in the reign of D. Dinis (1279-1325). #seeds #foodhistory #agriculture

There is less doubt about the role of the Portuguese in the introduction, in the 16th century, of Asian #rice (Oryza sativa L.) on the Atlantic coast of Africa, where there was already significant production of another species, Oryza glaberrima Steud (Photo: @Europeanaeu )

From Africa to America! Although there were indigenous varieties, European colonization was responsible for rice growing. In Brazil, rice production seems to date back to the middle of the 16th century, carried by Portuguese people coming from Cape Verde.

At that time, we know that #rice was sold in Portugal. João Brandão (1990) says in “Greatness and wealth of Lisbon in 1552”: “… fifty women, between white and black, either free or slaves, go out in the morning in Ribeira with big pots full of rice”

It was only at the end of the 18th century that rice cultivation was definitively established. At first with many fears once it was associated with the spread of malaria. When the origin of the disease was discovered in the 20th century, production gained further State incentives