When you cook rice and or pasta does the pastarice multiply?

You're right to be a bit confused! There's no such thing as "pastarice", and pasta and rice don't multiply when you cook them.

Here's what's going on:

* Rice absorbs water: When you cook rice, it absorbs water and expands. This makes it look like there's more rice, but you're just seeing the rice grains at their full size.

* Pasta absorbs water too: Pasta also absorbs water during cooking, but it doesn't multiply. It just becomes softer and larger.

So, even though rice and pasta appear to increase in volume, they don't actually create new food. It's all about the water absorption!