Wheat to be banned in Sri Lanka

I read a fascinating piece of news today, describing how Sri Lanka are banning wheat in their country. The motives are a little sinister but I can only imagine how great it must be for coeliacs over there.

The reasons for the ban are that Sri Lanka is a major rice growing country who have a large surplus of rice, whilst importing massive quantities of wheat. They there see a ban on wheat as a politically and economically sensible decision, to give demand to their local rice industry and reduce dependence on overseas wheat.

It is not appropriate here to discuss the relative pros and cons of governments exhorting control over industries in this way, but the article makes for an unusual read. I also wonder whether there will be a backlash when people no doubt discover that they don't enjoy the sticky, gritty texture of rice breads after the spongy glutenous wheat breads. Here's hoping the ban leads to improved rice bread recipes and the development of better rice flours.

The article is available here.

Posted by Rory on Nov 15th, 2010 under Gluten Overseas | Permalink | Comments(0) | Tweet | Facebook