Early in her career, a critic once quipped that if white bread could sing it would sound like Olivia Newton-John. Though the easy dismissal stung then, Olivia has had the last laugh. Whether she’s singing country or pop, Olivia’s fans love her.

As polished or unpolished, white or red, vied for a place on the plate of Sri Lankans well known as rice-eaters and the rice-diabetes link came under the microscope internationally, local experts urged that parboiled is the best.