The Gen-Ji-Mai story developed organically in 2005 when Steve Vargas, a Sun Valley Rice executive, decided to explore his quest for a more delicious, quicker cooking brown rice. Long before Gen-Ji-Mai officially had a name, Steve worked with Sun Valley to create a rice that was both supremely healthy, in addition to “family friendly” for his dinner table at home. The Japanese translation of Gen-Ji-Mai is “brown healthy rice,” which is indeed fitting and accurate, along with delicious!