Bali Expat Forum - Bali Travel Forum

[Kawika]

is rice grown on Bali available for purchase? where? when? Thanks

[tintin]

Since you are located in the USA (where?), I assume you are interested in finding the product in this country. In the Boston area, one can get rice from Indonesia (I've seen it once or twice at the local Asia market where I shop), but I've never seen on the bags that it was specifically from Bali, or any other region of the Archipelago for that matter. If I remember well, the Indonesian rice exporter was from Surabaya.

[Kawika]

Thanks Daniel.

But what I was trying to ask was where and when can you purchase Balinese rice in Bali?

[Markit]

If you can't find rice in Bali try for some potatoes in Idaho or I've heard rumors that you may get pineapples in Hawaii.

[tintin]

Come on Kawika, I give up: what's the punch line?

[Jimbo]

Kawika

You might want to put a bit more meat to your question. Bali has along with many parts of Indonesia the ability to grow 3 rice crops a year so rice is available for sale all year round even more especially as Balinese and Indonesia in general are rice eaters.

Throughout Bali and Indonesia there are also many different varieties of rice for sale and different quality as well. If you are trying to import rice for business purposes you need to be a lot more specific. If it is for private purposes well you can make a visit and buy whatever you like.

Not sure if anybody can help you further as we are neither growers or sellers.

[BaliLife]

i don't know what if anything is special about balinese rice (from a food perspective i mean).. my family are large rice eaters, (that's the biggest problem when it comes to weight control), and i'd have to say i rate pretty much all south asian rice right up there with something i'd feed my pet cat, if had one.. if rice were a religion, basmati would be god, and for those sinners who wanted a more starchy rice, basmati would have mercy on their souls and offer them arborio.. everytime my inlaws prepare rice (which unfortunately is everytime i'm at their house), i claim to be on a no carb diet - thankfully my wife has learnt how rice was intented to be eaten, and now also is in the basmati clan.. i'm sure bali rice makes good glue though

ct

[Bert Vierstra]

Come on Kawika, I give up: what's the punch line?

There isn't. He just wanted to know if he could recognize rice from Bali somehow...

[Kawika]

Thanks all for the responses including the funny ones. Jimbo thanks. I am looking for locally grown rice, for a buddy's consumption. He heard its supposed to be great stuff, where he got that I idea, I haven't a clue. I'll be in town in a couple days and I guess, I'll ask around. Thanks. Re, pineapples costco in hawaii sells some pineapples called maui gold, pretty good.

[tintin]

Bert,

Kawika wrote,

But what I was trying to ask was where and when can you purchase Balinese rice in Bali?

and I guess Markit answered him humorously and correctly: if one cannot find Balinese rice in Bali, where does one finds it? So, something must have been "lost in the translation," as they say, since Kawika has been a registered member of this Forum since almost 3 years. I assume then that he reads this Forum from time to time, and must have some familiarity with Bali, enough to know that one can buy Balinese rice in Bali, bukan?

[dave gede]

Hi Kawika the info i have on Beras Bali is that it is now seldom grown and only used for ceremonies as is Beras Barak the other rice seen a little more is ketan injin used in the black rice desert you may have tried . The reason for local rice varieties not being used is water use which is controlled by water co-ops or (subaks) the faster growing types from other Asian countries are now favoured because of effort and yield. hope this gives some kind of answer and i also would expect Eskimos to have ice.

[ronb]

Ah!! So there's the clue. Does Balinese rice simply mean rice grown in Bali, or does in mean a variety of rice that can be traced back some way as coming from Bali, or does it mean both - a Balinese variety grown in Bali?

[Thorsten]

Yes, there is rice on Bali, yes, it’s even sold, yes, you can buy it almost everywhere!

I’ve heard it’s rather hard to get any rice in the dessert Gobi, but for the rest of Asia you shouldn’t have too much difficulties to get some – maybe somebody will prove me wrong soon?

Since the only real expert for rice and everything else related to Bali was asskicked from this forum and the rest of us members are simply more or less clueless dreamers, ignorant tourists with no comprehension at all for Balinese culture , traditions, black magic and not to forget the most important Niskala and Sekala, I guess you will rely on hearsay or Google to find out anything about rice in Bali.

From my very limited German (potato country), non expat point of view just a few points about rice in Bali:

Balinese are cultivating rice since the 11th century (and no, it is simply not true that they prefer Uncle Ben’s parboiled rice nowadays there), all the social structures of community have been developed out of a system of rice agriculture there, the water management caused even democracy, rice is a fundamental part of religion.

It is also a rumour that all these rice terraces are only there, to provide the tourists a nice scenery for photo shootings, they really eat the rice – no kidding!
A dramatically change in Balinese rice agriculture was caused, when stupid politicians thought about to improve this perfect system, 1971 the Indonesian government had the great idea of a GREEN REVOLUTION, with a devastating impact on rice farming in Bali.

There seems to be a point of return since a few years already, little by little Balinese rice farmers are going back to the roots with amazing results, instead of poisoning their fields with all kind of chemical stuff over and over, using more traditional sorts of rice to grow and beside the costs even an environmental comprehension is developed now, one way to explore a more traditional and biological farming, when you are driving around in Bali is indicated by the ducks in the sawah.

I’ll better not write too much now, I personally never worked in the sawah, I do not even own a water buffalo, so I guess I’m not really entitled to refer about the ecological and economical impacts Bali has to face now due to a theoretical plan of progress and I also know it’s strictly forbidden to say anything negative about the water quality at all in Bali (heard at least Ubud is not effected at all)!

I know somebody who would know about all this stuff, she even studied it and is Balinese too, once there was a time when she loved to go into the sawah with her grandma until she got allergic reactions, but since she is living in Australia now, maybe she is also not a real expert for Balinese issues anymore?

Best regards
Thorsten

[Kadek]

I know somebody who would know about all this stuff, she even studied it and is Balinese too, once there was a time when she loved to go into the sawah with her grandma until she got allergic reactions, but since she is living in Australia now, maybe she is also not a real expert for Balinese issues anymore?

Hmm maybe I should not have posted my response below now then?

is rice grown on Bali available for purchase? where? when?

When talking about rice grown in Bali, there are of course many varieties of rice grown in Bali at the moment:

- the original/traditional old varieties of rice of Padi Del and Padi Cicih These were the rice that were grown in Bali since ages, but are only grown in small areas today (mainly in Tabanan). These varieties are what usually referred to as Beras Bali. I don’t know if they are exclusive to Bali and whether they also grow in other parts of Indonesia.
- different varieties of High Yielding rice developed by the Rice Research Institute. These high yielding varieties have shorter growing term and were introduced as part of the Green Revolution.
- Beras Merah (Red rice)
- Beras Hitam (Injin) (Black rice)
- Glutinous Rice (Ketan).
- Padi Gaga – dry land rice. Not so favoured because people think it doesn’t taste so nice and doesn’t have nice texture.

You can buy rice very easily in Bali and the varieties above are available at the markets, small shops, rice distributors (where smaller shops buy their supply of rice) and also in the supermarkets. There are also many rice sold that are coming from Thailand.
To the eyes of knowledgeable buyers – they can easily identify what varieties of rice they are getting when they go to the shop. To a person like me – most are just white rice!

So if you are after the Beras Bali – it would be best to know what you buy and what you get and to know also if you had bought the right rice. I only said this because if you don’t really know the difference in taste, texture or aroma (at least when it is cooked) then you don’t know if you have been sold the wrong type of rice. For example (ok an easy one) Jasmine rice as apposed to Bhasmati rice. These rice types are pretty easy to differentiate both before and after cooking. But some other varieties are not so easy to differentiate.

Many people like beras Bali more compared to the rice from high yielding varieties. The taste, texture, aroma etc are very desirable to Balinese although they are much more expensive compared to ordinary white rice. So it is not consumed as often as one would like.

Beras Merah is also getting popular for consumption – where it is mixed with white rice as staple to be eaten with other food during meals.

Injin is mostly used for sweet and is mixed with Ketan to make cakes, tape, crackers (Jaja) and of course the black rice pudding.
Ketan is also mostly used for making sweet or some type of cakes. Sometimes people will mix ordinary white rice with Ketan to improve the texture of the ordinary rice.

There is no yellow rice – cooked yellow rice is made using white rice either with saffron or tumeric.

Personally I think Bali should never have been forced to plant the genetically modified “high yielding” rice varieties as this adoption created a lot of problems. When it was first introduced, the production of rice increased and harvest was plentiful. And Indonesia gained the status of rice producing nation as a result. But this result was not sustainable! The varieties require a lot of inorganic fertiliser, which farmers must purchase, it is not very resistant to pests (even though it was developed for increased pests resistance) and farmers have to use a lot of pesticide to control pests infestation. Yields have dropped and Indonesia is once again a rice importing country. The adoption of these shorter term varieties also negatively impacted on the traditional (and proven sustainable) rice cultivation and the system of subaks, which have organised rice growing in Bali for centuries. The rice fields are now not as healthy anymore due to the use of these varieties of chemicals.

In the old days before the Green revolution a farmer could live all year round from his rice field (s). He utilises the cows/sapi to cultivate the land, which add extra fertiliser to the soil (the soil and the water are very fertile due to the volcanic ashes that provide natural phosphate). The rice fields were teaming with good organism that farmers collect for consumptions and also to sell – vegetables, fish, snails, eels, etc. Farmers produced their own seeds for their next crops. They didn’t need to buy fertiliser, didn’t need so much pesticide.

Now, farmers must purchase seeds for every crop (due to the unsuitability of using harvested padi for seeds), fertiliser, pesticides and hire of tractor to cultivate the soil. In the meantime, the water is polluted with excess fertiliser and pesticide which are not conducive to promoting healthy ecosystem for those organisms that used to live in rice fields. Not only do farmers now have to fork out this money in advance to be able to have a crop, they have also lost a source of extra income and or free food from the rice fields.

In my humble opinion this is a worst situation and not at all an improvement in any way!

The degradation of the soil and the rice fields ecosystem due to the adoption of the Green revolution technologies were of course gradual and maybe now if farmers would decide to collectively abandon this system and go back to how the traditional rice cultivation was prior to this event – the system might take very long to recover until farmers will see the benefits.

I remembered when I was little, I went to the rice field with my grandmother to collect snails, vegetables etc. It was such a good experience. I am very sad this is not possible anymore.

http://fora.tv/2006/02/13/J__Stephen_Lansing_A_Thousand_Years_in_Bali this is a very interesting presentation by Stephen J Lansing who studied the effects of Green Revolution on Bali and the Subak system.

Some more readings if you are interested to find out more:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Revolution
http://www.depts.ttu.edu/aged/miracle_rice_in_bali.htm
http://www.sacredbalance.com/web/drilldown.html?sku=62
http://rice-evolution.cornell.edu/gdpdm-accview.php?div_eid=1
http://www.ifpri.org/pubs/ib/ib11.pdf

I think this should be sufficient for now. Of course there are a lot more that can be written about this topic. I am very interested in this topic because it relates to culture, people and environment. My take on this might be a bit too “green” for some people due to environmental content – well I AM a “Greeny” after all.

I hope it helps.

Regards
Kadek

[Thorsten]

Oops

That was fast baby!

[tintin]

Just look at this report from the Ubud Rotary Club and you'll know as much as any expat "expert" on the subject.

http://www.rotaryubud.org/projects/susAg-project.htm