Minute Rice

[1] Afghan inventor Ataullah K. Ozai‐Durrani devised a process in the late 1930s to pre-cook and then dry rice in a way that allowed the rice to be re-hydrated simply by boiling it quickly.

Ozai-Durrani sold his method to General Foods in 1941 for several million dollars.

[1] Minute Rice was heavily marketed throughout the 1950s in magazines including Life and Better Homes and Gardens.

Around this time, sales of the product began to slip, which industry executives attributed to complications from the Kraft merger, the rise in private label and store brands creating more competition, and rice becoming less popular with some consumers compared to potatoes and pasta.

Kraft began another advertising blitz, including a hotline, 1-800-Minute-1, people could call for recipe ideas.