Rice Wars

As if our slowing economy isn’t enough to worry about, two restaurants in a Rhode Island mall food court are in the fifth year of a legal battle over the right to sell rice. Owner of the Cathay Cathay restaurant, says he pays extra rent to be the mall’s sole provider of white rice, which he says is the backbone of Chinese food…but the Gourmet Indian restaurant in that same food court says its lease allows them to sell basmati rice, a long-grained strain of white rice, which is called the “must ingredient” of Indian cuisine.

So far, legal fees have totaled $200,000.