This is rice
This morning, I took out a scale I bought for baking. I put a small bowl on the scale and weighed 15 grams of rice. When I ordered organic rice three months ago, I hadn’t imagined feeding it to my baby girl. I’m not the kind of guy who feels reassured by paying extra for an organic label (not anymore). I chose organic rice for the first time because it was almost the same price as the non-organic options. Now I was glad I was feeding my baby organic rice.
The rice had to be soaked for at least thirty minutes, then boiled and stirred for another forty minutes. After an hour of soaking, I put the rice and 70 ml of water into the pot. I held a spatula far too big for a batch of porridge made with just 15 grams of rice. “We need a smaller spatula,” my wife said. I nodded while cleaning the spatula with soap to make sure it was worthy of being the chosen tool for my baby’s first-ever solid meal.
I turned the heat to medium and started stirring. I wanted the porridge to hold on to a little bit of texture. I wanted Koyo to feel the rice in her mouth while having no difficulty swallowing it. I didn’t want to feed her something completely liquid again. My neck was hurting. I was absorbed in stirring and crushing the rice with the spatula. I realized I hadn’t washed the rice before soaking it in water. It was too late to go back to the very first step. I decided to stay quiet about this. The rice was organic. Everything was fine.
The porridge was done. Not too watery, not too grainy. It looked just like the porridge I’d seen online. Now I had to wait until it cooled down to room temperature. Koyo was taking her first nap, and the porridge grew cold while she slept. I moved a spoonful of porridge into a tiny bowl our friend had given us a few weeks ago. I moved the leftovers to a silicone ice cube tray. Fifteen grams of rice was more than enough to feed the baby for the next three days. My AI bot said the first three days were about helping the baby get used to eating solid foods. It was like a tutorial for Koyo. It was like telling her there was more to life than drinking milk.
The baby woke up. I removed the plastic wrap from the bowl and heated the porridge in the microwave. “Thirty seconds should be enough,” I said. I pressed the 30-second button and stopped the microwave after twenty seconds. There was already steam coming out of the bowl. “Oh, I should heat it for just ten seconds next time,” I said. “Bring a handheld fan. I saw other people using one to cool baby food,” my wife said. I brought the fan and blew cool air over the steaming porridge. After another thirty seconds, I dropped a bit of porridge on the back of my hand. It felt like the right temperature. Everything was ready.
My wife brought the baby’s Bumbo chair to the living room and put the baby in it. “Bring your phone. Let’s film this like we said earlier,” I said. Holding up the baby spoon, I said, “Ahhh,” and the baby opened her mouth. Koyo made a strange face, probably confused by the taste and texture of the new food. She kept opening her mouth for the porridge. “This is rice,” I told her. My wife was filming from another angle. It was Koyo’s first time eating Bop, meaning rice in Korean. We Koreans also use Bop to mean a meal. We ask each other, “Have you eaten?” the way we ask, “How are you?” Koyo could now finally answer, “Yes, I had Bop today.”
None of us can remember our first taste of solid food. I can only imagine the first time I tasted the sweetness and stickiness of rice porridge. I can only imagine my mom smiling at my confused expression. Today, the cycle repeated itself, and I was on the other side. “Koyo’s first solid food on your birthday!” Mom told me over the phone. I have a hard time remembering what I did on my birthdays. I never ask for a special cake or gift. I'm so used to treating my birthday as another day. Today was different. There was the rice. There was the baby. There was me stirring the porridge and forgetting to rinse the rice. This was a special day.