The cultivation of rice appears to have happened first in India at about 6500 B.C., and roughly that same time in Thailand at 6000 B.C. The jump to frying it could easily happen, if there was leftover rice and the person responsible for fetching water in the morning needed to eat first. The present form, with vegetables, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and the typical spices, may have happened soon after or at a much later date.

" Thus far, the oldest evidence from India comes from Koldihwa, U.P., where rice grains were embedded in earthen potsherds and rice husks discovered in ancient cow dung. The age of the Chalcolithic levels was estimated between 6570 and 4530 B.C. (Vishnu-Mittre 1976; Sharma et al. 1980), but the actual age of the rice remains may be as recent as 1500 B.C. (Chang 1987). Another old grain sample came from Mohenjodaro of Pakistan and dates from about 2500 B.C. (Andrus and Mohammed 1958). Rice cultivation probably began in the upper and middle Ganges between 2000 and 1500 B.C. (Candolle 1884; Watabe 1973). It expanded quickly after irrigation works spread from Orissa State to the adjoining areas of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in the Iron Age around 300 B.C. (Randhawa 1980).

In Southeast Asia, recent excavations have yielded a number of rice remains dating from 3500 B.C. at Ban Chiang (Thailand); 1400 B.C. at Solana (Philippines); and A.D. 500 at Ban Na Di (Thailand) and at Ulu Leang (Indonesia). Dates between 4000 and 2000 B.C. have been reported from North Vietnam (Dao 1985) but have not yet been authenticated.... Floods inundated vast tracts of low-lying land amid which rice chaffs and shell knives for cutting rice stalks were recently found at Khok Phanom Di near the Gulf and dated from 6000 to 4000 B.C. (Higham 1989)."

Who first cooked Fried Rice and when isn’t known it is generally assumed the dish originated in China by a peasant family as a way to use leftover rice. In general, Chinese like their rice steamed, white, and fluffy and unflavored. There is no strict formula for fried rice but it usually includes soy sauce, garlic, vegetables and occasionally mixed with meat or seafood.