It happens sometimes: you look up, and suddenly you’re sitting in a P.F. Chang’s or its sister restaurant Pei Wei. Because you’re a good Arkansawyer, you feel that tinge of guilt that comes from giving your hard-earned dollars to the big corporate guys at the expense of local options. Let me alleviate some of that guilt: You can eat (somewhat) local at either of those Asian-inspired bistros. How? By ordering the brown rice.

You see, the P.F. Chang’s national corporation uses Riceland Foods Medium-Grain Brown Rice in all its restaurants. Riceland is a farmer-owned company that has made Stuttgart, Arkansas, the self-proclaimed “rice capital of the world” — and in addition, the company operates the world’s largest rice mill in Jonesboro.

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Riceland is unique in that it has all the infrastructure of a large corporation, but operates under a co-op model that returns all profits back to its farmers. This means that buying Riceland products — or ordering them in a restaurant — puts money back into our state in a very compelling way.

Brown rice is good for you, it tastes good — and now there’s a local reason to order it at a couple of chains. And next time you’re out of state, fly your Arky flag proudly every time you pass a P.F. Chang’s — because what’s an Asian restaurant without rice?

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