Food

How Carolina Gold Rice Took Over Kitchens in the South

John Kessler

Jake Lee, a sous chef at Charleston’s Fig, keeps a Japanese headband tucked into his gear for one specific purpose. Once a day, he pulls it out, slips it across his forehead and in doing so sends this message to the kitchen crew: “Don’t talk to me. I’m cooking rice.”

Lee has earned this theatrical flourish. Few...