Based on the current historical data, it is believed that rice was first grown in India about 3,000 B.C., and has spread throughout the world. Rice is considered "The Bread of the World". Rice was introduced to the United State at the end of the seventeenth century when a ship was blown off course during a storm and landed in Charleston, South Carolina. The United State grows less than 2% of the world's rice, but we export about 70% of what we grow. Technology in the United States has allowed the time it takes to plant, fertilize and harvest one acre of rice from the traditional methods at 400 person/days to only 2 person days. Planting here in the United States is predominantly done with airplanes dropping the seeds into a flooded field as opposed to manually planting each seedling by hand.

Rice is low in fat and sodium and high in fiber, but is composed of approximately 80% carbohydrates, and only a small amount of protein. In the United States about 98% of the rice that is sold is white rice and the remaining 2% is brown rice. Recently a large variety of types of rice have become available.