Despite there not actually being a rice shortage here yet, the sky continues to fall for many rice consumers, including one lady who couldn't possibly be perceived as a hoarder: "Across San Francisco, where a third of the population is of Asian descent, shopkeepers report runs on rice that have depleted their supplies and left some wholesalers scrambling to meet demand. 'People are afraid,' said Robert Sakai, 57, owner of the Uoki Fish Market in the city's Japantown. 'We tell them, 'There's no shortage yet,' but over the weekend it was crazy in here' ... One Asian-American woman, who insisted that she not be identified because she did not want to be perceived as a hoarder, said she had bought 30 pounds 'because of the shortage.' 'We don't even eat that much rice,' she said. 'But I read about it in the newspaper and decided to buy some.'" [NYT, previously]
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