Rice is My New Go To Side Dish

Yesterday on a run I was listening to "Doughboys". Every Tuesday they put out their Patreon episodes, and since I have access to them, it is a nice treat. They did one of their feed bags, in which they answer questions submitted by fans and listeners. I typically enjoy these episodes because they are free and loose and fun. It is a delightful hour plus. There are times where a question sits with me and I think about it, and that happened this week.

The question was from a fan overseas and they said that, instead of getting fries, they usually get rice as a side dish with their meal. They mentioned getting rice with chicken nuggets or a hamburger. This divulged into a question between the hosts and engineer on whether they prefer rice or a potato as a side dish. As I was running it seemed like a simple answer. I immediately thought that I would want a potato side dish. But the more they talked, the more I kind of flipped sides, then flipped back, then flipped again. I actually think this is a very good question, and I want to take a deepish dive into why I would now choose rice over a potato. And for those questioning my pick of rice over a potato, since steak is my favorite food, they said that this question only involves fast food places, no sit down/fancy spots, and fries are not included in the potato category. Those are totally out of the question.

So as I have sat with this for a couple days, the easiest answer for rice is how much easier it is to eat. Potato side dishes can be messy. They can be sloppy. They can also be super heavy and throw off the rest of the meal. Rice is much easier to eat, especially with a spoon. It is better for you. Both rice and potatoes are full of carbs, but rice is known as a "slow carb". I eat those regularly now. It is not sloppy unless you make it sloppy. My kids can make a mess of rice, but they are nine and five. An adult should have no problem eating rice clean. And rice is not nearly as heavy as a potato. It can be filling if you eat way too much, but you have to eat a ton of rice for it to fill you up. I also started to imagine both side options with some fast food spots that I really enjoy. The listener mentioned rice with chicken nuggets, and that sounds like a delight. Take some of that sweet and sour sauce and mix it in the rice with the nuggets and you could have a very low rent version of orange chicken. If I get nuggets and a baked potato, or a twice baked potato, or even a scalloped potato, that is too much. It is too heavy. I thought about burgers, mainly the double cheeseburger from Burger King, which is my favorite, and rice sounds so much better. The double cheeseburger is filling enough, so throwing a potato on top of that is far too much food. But if I were to get a side of sticky rice, that seems much more palatable. It seems much better for my insides as well. With the bun, and then add a potato on top of that, that is way too many carbs. The side of rice would be less, and better carbs. I love Popeye's spicy chicken sandwich, and a side of rice would be the perfect cooling down compliment to the heat. A potato wouldn't do much, but the rice would be excellent for quelling the spice. And as far as any chicken dish goes from fast food spots, rice is a much, much better side dish than any potato dish, save for french fries. Even when I thought about sandwich spots, like a Jersey Mike's or Jimmy John's, rice would be way better. I know chips are the sandwich side dish go to, but I think rice would be better, You could have less, it would be much better for you and no one ever needs that high, high amount of carbs. I always thought I was a potato guy. As mentioned before I love a good twice baked potato or a scalloped potato or some kind of potato hot dish. But those always made me feel too full before getting the main dish. I would over eat the potato dish. Rice seems like the better option. It is easier and better for me. I think I am now a rice fan and I like it.

Long story short, rice is a superior side dish to the potato for fast food restaurants. I would love it if America gave us this option. So the next time you just blindly pick a potato as a side dish, think about how much better of a choice rice would be. You won't regret it.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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