The article accompanying that film clip says that rice was rarely found on the American table in the 1950s.
Is that true? Actually, it can't be exactly true. They probably mean that it was rarely found on tables in most of America, or perhaps in the parts of America that the article writer considers worthy of note.
I came along in the 1960s, but I don't think that eating rice was a new thing where I lived. We had it two or three times a week, almost always with gravy.
Later, Mama discovered Cajun food and we had it in gumbo and with red beans, too. Rice casseroles were a big thing for other people but Daddy wasn't into casseroles so we never had them.
Rice pilau and red rice are a traditional dishes in the Carolinas and Georgia. Poultry stuffings were often made with rice there, too. Rice plantations made people rich there and in Louisiana and probably in some other former slave states. I'm guessing that rice is a big part of the cuisine in all the states that border the Gulf of Mexico or the Gulf Stream.
My sister and I were fascinated with Rice-A-Roni, because the jingle was so catchy and the trolleys on the commercial were so cool, but Daddy wouldn't eat anything that exotic so we never had it.
Jodi