#tinkyada

Pasta. Pssh. Who needs it? Certainly not those of us who live the gluten-free lifestyle. Sure, maybe there was a time we craved it, and mourned when became permanently off-limits. But we’ve evolved since then. We’ve been able to move past pasta because we’ve discovered something waaaay better: rice.

Here, in no particular order, are 10 reasons why rice is better than pasta. Keep these in mind the next time you’re pining for penne or raging for ravioli.

Rice pairs nicely with Mexican, Asian, Middle Eastern, and a million other cuisines—including Italian. Pasta mostly just goes with Italian. (Ok, maybe beef stroganoff.)

If you’ve ever been forced to figure out the gluten-free thing at a Chinese restaurant, you know that a plain bowl of steamed white rice actually tastes pretty good by itself. While you can add stuff to rice, you don’t necessarily need to. Pasta is different. With pasta, you always need a sauce—or at least a thin coat of olive oil to help it go down. Winner: rice.

There’s no such thing as “minute” spaghetti.

Rice can be enjoyed with minimal processing. Pasta, by definition, must be processed from flour.

Four words: Gluten-free Rice Crispies. It makes a fast, easy, gluten-free breakfast. (To my knowledge, I’ve never encountered a pasta-based breakfast cereal.)

No one throws pasta at weddings. That would be weird.

I once saw a taekwondo master punch through seven concrete blocks at once. His diet? Plain white rice for breakfast, lunch, and most dinners. Try THAT on a diet of pure pasta.

Raw tuna rolled in rigatoni = the worst sushi you’ve ever had.

Pasta doesn’t really “do” sugar (with the possible exception of noodle kugel). But what about rice? Dunno—I’ll have to think about that one over a bowl of rice pudding.

The top reason we love pasta? Because rice can be turned into pasta. Pasta cannot be turned into rice.