Can we talk for a minute about "Cauliflower Rice"

Blows my mind how people seem to care so much what other people call their food. I can only assume these same people lose their composure when someone brings a fruit pizza to a party - unless it's made with marinara sauce and traditional pizza crust I suppose.

For me personally it's just about calling something that it's not. I wouldn't call a 1/4 squat a squat, or prancercising as strenuous exercise.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Well hey that works for you. But my calling thinly sliced/chopped cauliflower rice isn't the HUGE issue people make it out to be. I think my world will go just fine if I call it that. And you know what, so will yours! I promise! I mean people call sweet in low a sugar substitute, but it's not sugar. People call tofu a meat substitute, but it's not meat. It's not a big deal people.

Eat your cauliflower any way you want want it and call it what you like! Or don't it eat. I could care less...but please, keep the recipes coming! I love ideas of different ways to prepare foods I love!

I don't think there's anything normal about wanting to pretend something isn't what it is, but hey that's just me.
I like rice and call it rice.
I like cauliflower and call it cauliflower.
I haven't tried to create a dish from cauliflower in very small bits, but it sounds delicious. I definitely don't get why this would be called cauliflower rice, since there's no rice in it, so boring me would still call it cauliflower.

People do this all the time. I think it is very "normal" to eat foods that you like and to want to try them in new and interesting ways.

And "ricing" is a method of cutting food. You can "rice" a lot of things.

+1 I guess to make some folks happy we need to call it: cauliflower I chopped into rice size?

Off topic: Super cute pup in your profile pic!

Thank you! He is my yellow lab who refuses to come indoors once snow hits the ground!

Blows my mind how people seem to care so much what other people call their food.

Personally, I don't care at all what others call their food, and I imagine cauliflower might work well in a dish riced just as some people seem to like shredded carrots (I don't, who knows why not).

I'm more curious about the frequency with which cauliflower is promoted not for itself, but for it's ability to mimic other foods (foods that are then dismissed as not that great, so one wonders why they are being mimicked). It's totally normal to not like rice or think it's okay, no great shakes (like I said before, I prefer cauliflower), and similarly it's totally normal not to like meat or potatoes (even if I disagree), but then why create a fake version of these things? Why not just say that cauliflower (even mashed if you must) makes a better side dish than potatoes or some such? It's not a criticism, I just don't get it, so thought it would be interesting, and not some kind of insult, to discuss.

None of this relates specifically to the OP's post, which was more like "yum, I discovered this recipe I like!" vs. "rice can and should be replaced with cauliflower in all dishes," but this idea of cauliflower as a replacement is hardly uncommon, so I think it's interesting. With meat it kind of makes sense, as a lot of people don't eat meat despite liking it, for ethical reasons, so the same thing with rice and potatoes suggests that there's something wrong with rice and potatoes, so it leads to the questions.

Some people are trying to restrict carbs, which does work for some. I can totally see replacing a high starch veggie with cauliflower if following that type of diet. This is how the South Beach diet does things and I had by best success when I was following this type of diet.

Blows my mind how people seem to care so much what other people call their food. I can only assume these same people lose their composure when someone brings a fruit pizza to a party - unless it's made with marinara sauce and traditional pizza crust I suppose.

For me personally it's just about calling something that it's not. I wouldn't call a 1/4 squat a squat, or prancercising as strenuous exercise.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

If they just called it rice and left out the word cauliflower, you'd have a point. But they didn't - they called it cauliflower rice and the name is obviously tied to its visual appearance and texture. If you want to talk Asians, if I order squirrel fish at a nice authentic Chinese restaurant, I suppose you'd protest that because they don't actually prepare it with rodents, but rather they name the dish for its visual appearance. And your suggestion that they call it bits or chunks is just silly - tons of foods are given names that aren't merely literal descriptions how they're prepared and personally I don't find "bits" or "chunks" to be particularly appetizing names. For instance, I'm happier to order a filet mignon rather than an 8oz chunk of tenderloin, but to each his own. If you ask me though, what other people call their food is a trivial issue.

Oh I agree it's a trivial issue. I just needed more posts to get to 25,000 so I thought I'd chime in.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Blows my mind how people seem to care so much what other people call their food. I can only assume these same people lose their composure when someone brings a fruit pizza to a party - unless it's made with marinara sauce and traditional pizza crust I suppose.

For me personally it's just about calling something that it's not. I wouldn't call a 1/4 squat a squat, or prancercising as strenuous exercise.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Well hey that works for you. But my calling thinly sliced/chopped cauliflower rice isn't the HUGE issue people make it out to be. I think my world will go just fine if I call it that. And you know what, so will yours! I promise! I mean people call sweet in low a sugar substitute, but it's not sugar. People call tofu a meat substitute, but it's not meat. It's not a big deal people.

Eat your cauliflower any way you want want it and call it what you like! Or don't it eat. I could care less...but please, keep the recipes coming! I love ideas of different ways to prepare foods I love!

Trust that I'm not fretting or staying up a night worrying about what people call their food. Personally I find it humorous.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Well good. Finding humor is important in life...where ever you find it!

To all you cauliflower rice lovers: do you ever prep ahead and freeze? I typically prep as much as I can ahead of time and wonder how it would hold up if I was to freeze it.

In for riling up!

Cauliflower Steaks:



DISCLAIMER: I did not name them. I do not eat them as a substitute for teh meats. But they are good!

The OP is not saying that rice is evil, or that no one should eat it.

Agreed. Did you not see the part of my post that said something quite similar? Specifically: "None of this relates specifically to the OP's post, which was more like 'yum, I discovered this recipe I like!'"

There isn't anything wrong with rice and potatoes, but there are many people who either must, or choose to, eat a diet low in carbohydrates. For those people (myself included), it can be fun to find new ways to eat foods that we love by swapping out higher carb options for lower carb options.

I think this makes sense and is obviously the reason--that for some reason people must or think they must avoid starchy carbs and also assume that lots of other people are going to want to do this. But of course this is also the reason why these kinds of posts get a bunch of people (not me, my particular question was different, just to be clear) wanting to say "what's wrong with rice"? Clearly the answer isn't just that everyone likes cauliflower more than rice (although they should, IMO, since it's tastier)*, as was initially suggested, but there's some kneejerk assumption by many that people on a website where lots of people are trying to lose weight will want to avoid the dread potato or rice or egg yolks, etc. As there's no real reason why people trying to lose weight must avoid these foods--and as they actually have positive qualities--it makes sense that you get a backlash to what seems to be conventional diet wisdom (kind of like the low fat stuff) in the form of a defense of the foods in question. I know I've seen a ton of posts lately that seem to assume that anyone sensible and health conscious should not come within 8 feet of a potato, so that's a particular one that I'm noticing. This is different than simply saying that in my particular diet I'm avoiding X or personally dislike Y.

Anyway, my question was slightly different--I'm just curious why the tendency would be to focus on cauliflower's alleged ability to taste like something else, vs. it's own qualities and how well they combine with the others in question. I think this weirds me out enough that I ask because IME when you are expecting one taste and get another there's usually a disappointment, and plus if I choose not to eat something it seems less helpful to try to recreate it. But obviously there's a huge market for fake meat, so I know others feel differently. I'm just interested in what makes this appealing? Is it a lingering sense that particular meals need rice or meat or whatever?

Again, this isn't criticism of how anyone chooses to eat and I find it odd that an effort to discuss it more generally is taken as such.


*Joking, obviously. Taste is subjective, so I'd never claim my preferences are better than those of others.

Bump

The OP is not saying that rice is evil, or that no one should eat it.

Agreed. Did you not see the part of my post that said something quite similar? Specifically: "None of this relates specifically to the OP's post, which was more like 'yum, I discovered this recipe I like!'"

There isn't anything wrong with rice and potatoes, but there are many people who either must, or choose to, eat a diet low in carbohydrates. For those people (myself included), it can be fun to find new ways to eat foods that we love by swapping out higher carb options for lower carb options.

I think this makes sense and is obviously the reason--that for some reason people must or think they must avoid starchy carbs and also assume that lots of other people are going to want to do this. But of course this is also the reason why these kinds of posts get a bunch of people (not me, my particular question was different, just to be clear) wanting to say "what's wrong with rice"? Clearly the answer isn't just that everyone likes cauliflower more than rice (although they should, IMO, since it's tastier)*, as was initially suggested, but there's some kneejerk assumption by many that people on a website where lots of people are trying to lose weight will want to avoid the dread potato or rice or egg yolks, etc. As there's no real reason why people trying to lose weight must avoid these foods--and as they actually have positive qualities--it makes sense that you get a backlash to what seems to be conventional diet wisdom (kind of like the low fat stuff) in the form of a defense of the foods in question. I know I've seen a ton of posts lately that seem to assume that anyone sensible and health conscious should not come within 8 feet of a potato, so that's a particular one that I'm noticing. This is different than simply saying that in my particular diet I'm avoiding X or personally dislike Y.

Anyway, my question was slightly different--I'm just curious why the tendency would be to focus on cauliflower's alleged ability to taste like something else, vs. it's own qualities and how well they combine with the others in question. I think this weirds me out enough that I ask because IME when you are expecting one taste and get another there's usually a disappointment, and plus if I choose not to eat something it seems less helpful to try to recreate it. But obviously there's a huge market for fake meat, so I know others feel differently. I'm just interested in what makes this appealing? Is it a lingering sense that particular meals need rice or meat or whatever?

Again, this isn't criticism of how anyone chooses to eat and I find it odd that an effort to discuss it more generally is taken as such.


*Joking, obviously. Taste is subjective, so I'd never claim my preferences are better than those of others.

Honestly, I'm not a fan of cauliflower at all, but I'm giving it another shot this week!

And yes, I did see that part of your post. I just haven't figured out how to bold the part that I'm trying to talk about. :blushing:

"ricing" is actually a cooking technique.

BINGO!

And some how riced cauliflower is fine, but cauliflower rice makes the food Gods angry.