I know you didn’t ask, but here are some of my opinions on the best things to eat. I’m going to give them to you whether you want them or not.

I agree with most of the rest of the world that rice is one of the best foods. It’s easy to fix in a thousand different ways and it’s cheap because it’s easy to grow in large quantities.

The strange thing is, I don’t remember ever seeing a rice plant. I don’t know what rice looks like growing. I don’t ever recall seeing a field of rice. I’ve eaten rice in both China and India and it was always good. I can’t say the same for potatoes in America. They’re good sometimes, bad other times. You can simply boil rice in water for about 10 minutes, drain it, let it steam for a few minutes and eat it. However, you usually do more than that to rice. I like rice simply boiled and mixed with butter. I think rice is good with any kind of meat and gravy, and don’t count out rice as a dessert. My mother made rice pudding at least once a week. She put raisins in it, which I didn’t particularly care for. I don’t know what’s happened to rice pudding but I never have it anymore.

The sound of the word “pudding” isn’t very appealing to me. Maybe that’s the problem.

I see potatoes as more of an American staple. It’s my opinion that you can’t do as many good things with potatoes as you can with rice, although I’ll concede that rice is hard to French fry. You can have rice with a meal or you can eat it as your main meal.

It’s strange that you can make dessert with rice, but I don’t know how to make a dessert with potatoes. Potato pudding? I don’t think so.

I like most vegetables, but sweet potatoes never appealed to me. I don’t eat them. I like many things that are sweet and I like potatoes, but I hate sweet potatoes. I don’t have all of the statistics on the consumption of rice around the world, but I think that in the United States and Great Britain, people eat more rice than potatoes.

The people of most countries use one or the other as a staple. I will say that rice has become more popular here in the last 20 years. I just found out that Russia and China produce the most potatoes, and India and China consume the most rice.

I’ve eaten in most countries in the world, but I like our own food in America best. For one thing, we’ve borrowed what’s best from other countries. Indian and Chinese food are very different but both are great.

The average man or woman who cooks dinner each night for their family doesn’t have the time to cook a good French meal or a good Chinese meal.

I don’t want to say where the food is worst. For years, food in England was not highly regarded. I was told if you go to England, bring a sandwich or go across the English Channel and eat in Paris. Now, you can find great restaurants in London.

In the United States, there are good restaurants in every city, but I think people who’ve been everywhere would agree that the best restaurants are found in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago.

Write to Andy Rooney at Tribune Media Services, 2225 Kenmore Ave., Suite 114, Buffalo, NY 14207, or via email at aarooney5@yahoo.com.