Creamy risotto in a fluffy seafood souffle and gelato sprinkled with crunchy topping were among the delicacies concocted by master chefs in a cooking contest in Tokyo for American rice — a product that is struggling to crack a nation notorious for protecting its rice farmers.
The California Rice Masters competition was part of a $1 million campaign kicked off by the USA Rice Federation, an organization of American rice growers and millers, to promote Calrose rice. Calrose is widely used in the U.S. but is entering the restaurant and retail market here as kernel rice for the first time in September.
The eight finalists, chosen among 250 entries, labored over their dishes on stage, a couple with trembling fingers, as judges, reporters and guests watched, and later taste-tested, in a hotel on Friday.