In the 12th century, archacolo gists found tapering shaped rice grains in the chao phraya Basin in the central plains, which seemed to indicate that this new strain of rice had been introduced form outside. It is believed that the new strain must have been popular among the nobility and later spread to otther levels of society and to other regions. It is the rice that most people eat nowadays. However, It is the north and northeast have continued to eat rice as their staple food