Glutinous rice is a type of rice grown mainly in Southeast and East Asia and the eastern parts of South Asia, which has opaque grains, very low amylose content, and is especially sticky when cooked. While it is widely consumed across Asia, it is only a staple food in northeastern Thailand and Laos.It is called glutinous in the sense of being glue-like or sticky, and not in the sense of containing gluten While often called "sticky rice", it differs from non-glutinous strains of japonica rice which also become sticky to some degree when cooked. There are numerous cultivars of glutinous rice, which include japonica, indica and tropical japonica strains.