FROM 1970 through 1987, an average of 25 to 30 percent of the rice consumed by Americans was in the form of beer. We're talking Budweiser and Miller. Good beer relies on malted barley or sometimes wheat, but almost any grain can be fermented and brewed. And rice is cheaper than wheat or barley.

Since 1982, Americans have been drinking about four pounds of rice a year. But in the 1990's, because overall rice consumption has been growing and mass-market beer sales are flat, more rice is being eaten, not guzzled.