The birth of Rice-A-Roni began with a friendship between a Canadian immigrant and a survivor of the Armenian genocide. Soon after, an Italian family made "the San Francisco treat" into a popular side dish.
In this story, Bay Area production team The Kitchen Sisters track down the original pilaf recipe that started it all.
TED CAPTANIAN: When I was young, we'd see these commercials for Rice-A-Roni. Every time we'd hear that jingle, my father would say, "You know, your grandmother gave a rice recipe to the people who started that company." So every time you hear it, you can think of your grandmother. To be honest, we kind of thought, "Could that possibly be true?"
This story was produced by The Kitchen Sisters, Davia Nelson and Nikki Silva, as part of their Hidden Kitchens radio series.
