14 DAY TRIAL // For some reason, humans like to eat rice. Maybe it's the cool box the rice comes in or maybe because rice can be grown practically anywhere .
Over 200 million metric tons of rice are being harvested annually. After some straight forward algebra calculations, I found that 10 million people are eating rice as you're reading this. Right. In today's world, you'd need, let's say, half an hour to cook a rice meal. Well, things are about to change.
A Japanese consulting firm and other developers have come up with a self heating boxed of rice which steams itself once you pour cold water in it.
The group of inventors called it "Hotto! Raisu". I presume you don't need a translation for that. Here's the gist of it. The rice is pre-cooked 4,000 the times of normal atmospheric pressure (ouch!). An exothermic agent found in the box reacts with the added cold water and heats up the rice in 15 minutes. The developers were able to preserve rice for long periods in a soft form that holds the moisture.
Japanese officials from the city Manichi said that the product can be a real boon in areas that have been hit by natural disasters, where electricity is often unavailable. It'll also work for those workaholics who don't have enough time to prepare a decent "Yuushoku" (and there are plenty in the Nippon island). The product is not that cheap though. 30 "Hotto! Raisu" packs will cost 10,000 Yen (about $2.75, according to my algebra), so it's definitely not an option for those who encounter financial problems. This box looks really future-proof, eh?
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