Minangkabau rice has many names. Germinated rice seed is called boniah. A field of unhulled and unhusked rice is called padi. Hulled and husked it is called beras. Cooked rice is called nasi. There are many other names for rice, depending on its color (white, yellow, or black), how it is prepared, and what it is used for. I have eaten rice boiled, baked, fried, and popped; with spices for dinner, fermented for breakfast; as a porridge for diarrhea and as a sticky substance wrapped in leaves and mixed with coconut milk or made into little cakes for a sweet treat. It would be impossible to count all the names and the ways one can eat rice. I never ceased to wonder at the new rice concoctionis that might be put in front of me at a meal or at a ceremony.