Don't Look for Potatoes

Don't Look for Potatoes

Martin Howard September 11, 2012 View all blog articles

One of the things that took some getting used to for me was the abundance of rice coming at me from all directions on Guam, and the conspicuous lack of anything that ends with "potatoes" (i.e. mashed potatoes, au gratin potatoes, etc). Having come from the south east (read: redneck) the only kind of rice I was ever exposed to when I was growing up was the kind that you boil in a bag. I happened to be in the commissary on Sunday, and saw a young man shouldering a 40lb bag on each side of his head and it gave me something to write about.

Maybe I'm exposing my ignorance, that rice is a staple food in more parts of the world than not. Just not where I grew up.

According to Wikipedia there are over 40,000 varieties of rice. I'm not sure how many we have here on Guam, but you can expect rice to be served at just about every eatery on the island. Sometimes served with an oversize ice-cream scooper, rice goes with just about anything.

My personal favorite rice dish is a meal all by itself, corned beef fried rice at Shirley's, located in the Village of Harmon. I'm pretty sure most of the food groups are in there somewhere, and I'm certain an order of fried rice is actually intended to be shared, but good luck with that.