Rice: one grain, dozens of dishes

Every rice dish here started with a problem. Feed a family, keep the meat, use what you have.

Rice is the plate everything else sits on. But each rice dish on this desk began as an answer to a problem.

Nasi lemak began as a simple coconut rice meal for farmers and fisherfolk on Malaysia's west coast. Rendang takes its name from a Minangkabau word for slow cooking. The method kept meat for months with no fridge. It came from West Sumatra long before it became festive food across the Malay world.

The dishes changed as they moved. A farmer's breakfast became a nation's. A preserved meat became a feast.

This desk follows each dish from the first pot to the plate you know.

Malaysia · Singapore

An illustration of the Backstory Asia globe mascot peering through its magnifying glass at an open banana-leaf packet of nasi lemak, sambal on the coconut rice beside anchovies, peanuts, egg and cucumber, on a village veranda at sunrise. — Illustration: Backstory Asia, AI-generated

Nasi lemak: the farmer's coconut rice first printed in 1875

It began as a hearty breakfast for Malay farmers. Its first print record is from 1875: a Malay-French dictionary defines it as rice cooked with coconut milk.

Published 8 October 2026

Singapore · Malaysia

An illustration of the Backstory Asia globe mascot studying a plate of Hainanese chicken rice through its magnifying glass, sliced poached chicken on cucumber beside a dome of fragrant rice, with chilli, ginger and dark soy sauces and a bowl of clear soup, on a marble table in an old Singapore coffee shop where whole poached chickens hang in the stall behind. — Illustration: Backstory Asia, AI-generated

Hainanese chicken rice: from Wenchang to Singapore

The dish starts with Wenchang chicken from Hainan island. Hainanese cooks reworked it in 1920s and 1930s Singapore into the chicken rice plate you know today.

Published 8 October 2026

Philippines

An illustration of the Backstory Asia globe mascot studying a clay pot of adobo through its magnifying glass, pork and chicken simmering in vinegar with garlic over a wood fire, beside a jar of palm vinegar, sugarcane, coarse salt and garlic on a woven mat, at a bamboo house by the water in the lowland Philippines, while a Spanish galleon lies at anchor far out in the bay. — Illustration: Backstory Asia, AI-generated

Adobo: a Filipino method with a Spanish name

Long before the Spanish came, Filipinos kept meat in vinegar and salt. Spanish chroniclers gave it a word they knew: adobo, meaning marinade.

Published 14 October 2026

Every story on this desk

Rice dishes: story, one-line hook, and place
Nasi lemak: the farmer's coconut rice first printed in 1875	It began as a hearty breakfast for Malay farmers. Its first print record is from 1875: a Malay-French dictionary defines it as rice cooked with coconut milk.	Malaysia · Singapore
Hainanese chicken rice: from Wenchang to Singapore	The dish starts with Wenchang chicken from Hainan island. Hainanese cooks reworked it in 1920s and 1930s Singapore into the chicken rice plate you know today.	Singapore · Malaysia
Adobo: a Filipino method with a Spanish name	Long before the Spanish came, Filipinos kept meat in vinegar and salt. Spanish chroniclers gave it a word they knew: adobo, meaning marinade.	Philippines

A new story publishes every weekday.

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Malaysia2 stories Singapore2 stories

Philippines1 story