Marie Antoinette was one of those women closeted in safety and luxury in a palace, spared from the realities of life.

So that when the leaders would no longer provide for the starving poor, not even bread, the peasants revolted. Hearing that the French revolution had started because peasant didn’t even have bread to eat, MA whined, "No bread? Give them cake!"

With the Philippines worrying about running out of its white rice, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap didn’t quite whine, "No white rice?" He said, "Make them eat brown rice." Is he living in the same cocooned world as Marie Antoinette?

Doesn’t the secretary know that brown rice is more expensive, mostly found in gourmet-type stores and supermarkets, more scarce, more difficult to find than white rice?

Does Yap know why brown rice is more expensive than white rice? If he does not know, may I explain why? Brown rice, like whole wheat, has a shorter shelf-life. Any commodity that is highly nutritious to man and critters rots sooner; more problematic to handle in commercial quantity, and therefore has a higher price. This is why brown whole wheat bread is unknown to most Filipinos.

It rots in the hot hull of ships from there to here. White wheat, nutrient-devoid arina can sit in the hot hull of ships for months, and it does not rot. The bacteria and insects die of malnutrition eating white arina.

Why does brown rice have a shorter shelf life?

Because brown rice (what Tagalogs call pinawa) is unpolished, with only the hull removed. On the grain is still the reddish-brown, nutrient-loaded outer covering. This bran coating has the B complex and other vitamins, the nutritious oil in the grain’s germ. Because brown rice is nutritious, the weevils, molds, insects increase and multiply. The millions of creepy crawlies in the brown rice, eating, peeing, pooing, leaves the rice rotten, not fit for consumption within a shorter period. Brown rice, as with whole wheat flour, needs refrigeration.

This speedy rotting process does not happen with white rice or white wheat flour. These are white grains; grains that have been heavily milled.

All the nutritious covering has been scraped away. The milled bran with B (tiki-tiki) and other vitamins nutrients are fed to the pigs and horses. The pigs and horses are eating bran, more nutritious and far healthier than poor Filipino children who are fed white rice, pandesal, and white wheat flour Ramen noodles by their ignorant parents.

The bran meant for animals should be given to Filipino children, and the nutrient-devoid pandesal and sliced Tasty bread should be fed to pigs and horses.

These facts about brown rice are why dealers would rather not deal with brown rice in quantity. I can go from market to market asking for brown rice, pinawa, and rice dealers look at my like I’m crazy.

"Wala na hung may gusto ng brown rice. Hindi kami nagtitinda." (No one likes brown rice. We don’t sell it anymore.)

No demand, no supply. No supply, no demand. Since it is not available, and nutritionists forget to tell the parents that brown rice and whole wheat bread are better for their families, generations of Filipinos grow up knowing only snow white rice and snow white bread.