A meal without carbs always feels like somebody forgot to finish cooking it. First: potatoes. Possibly the most versatile food ever created. Fries with burgers. Mashed potatoes with gravy. Roast potatoes beside steak. Hash browns for breakfast. Potato wedges. Crisps. Chips. Baked potatoes. Potato gratin. You can boil them, fry them, mash them, roast them, bake them, smash them and somehow every version still works. One vegetable should not have this much range. Then there is bread. Fresh bread straight out of the oven? Warm, soft inside, slightly crisp outside — ridiculous. Humanity already had perfection and somehow decided, “Cook it again.” And thus we got toast. Toast for breakfast. Toasted sandwiches. Grilled cheese. Garlic bread. French toast. Put practically anything between two slices of bread and suddenly you've created a meal. But then... There is rice. No. Calling it the king is disrespectful. Rice is the king of kings. Nay, the emperor. The dictator of the dinner table. The sultan of sustenance. The reigning supreme of the supreme. The undisputed ruler sitting above every other carbohydrate while they fight amongst themselves for second place. There are few things more comforting than a plate of freshly cooked warm white rice. Steam still rising. Soft, fluffy grains. Nothing fancy. Nothing complicated. Yet somehow you can smell it and immediately know food is about to be good. And rice does not need attention. Rice is humble. Rice sits there and makes everything else better. Fried chicken? Rice. Curry? Rice. Sambal? Rice. Beef? Rice. Fish? Rice. Egg? Rice. Leftovers from yesterday that don't really make sense together? Put them beside rice. Suddenly it is a meal. Gravy gets absorbed into it. Sambal coats it. Curry soaks through it. Fried eggs break over it. Meat juices fall into it. You can fry it again tomorrow and somehow rice comes back for a second life as an entirely different dish. Plain warm rice with something salty on the side can already make you happy. And then you realise how many foods begin with it. Nasi katok. Nasi lemak. Nasi goreng. Chicken rice. Sushi. Bibimbap. Risotto. Congee. Biryani. Paella. Entire cuisines looked at rice and understood the assignment. The mother. The foundation. The life. Everything in your hands starts with rice. All hail rice.