Rice is hands down my favorite food on Earth. Living over a decade in China, we ate it everyday and sometimes even two or three times a day. But it was during this time period that I also came to realize that white rice privilege is real and prevalent.

You can deny white rice privilege, or hide from it, or say “I don’t see rice”. But for a lot of people it’s very obvious. It’s right there, staring them in the face everyday.

Even in these modern times we are confronted by ignorant people who routinely overlook brown rice, sushi rice, basmati rice, jasmine rice, black rice, glutinous sticky rice, red rice, wehani rice and a whole variety of other rices. All they can see is that big jumbo bag of white rice sitting on the shelf at Costco.

You can hear these people grumbling about “fancy newfangled dishes that the kids are putting up on Instagram” with their “diversity of flavors and aromas”. “Why can’t we just go back to simpler times?” they ask, “My granddad worked in a factory, ate white rice everyday and that was good enough for him.”

They continue, “Now you can barely go to the grocery store without having Rice-a-Roni’s San Francisco Treat agenda rammed down your throat!!”

“I don’t care what ANYONE says, REAL rice CAN’T be cooked in a microwave for one minute, it’s got to be boiled on a stovetop for ten!!”

These people are highly defensive and reactionary. Their outdated and unscientific ideas about the homogeneity of rice’s appearance and makeup continue to spread deeply-held biases about rice. Unknowingly, and sometimes knowingly, they have perpetuated systemic riceism.

White riceists need to change and they need to change quickly. They must learn that there is a whole beautiful rainbow of rices from around the world, and they all have unique characteristics. Those who only eat white rice would do well to branch out and try spending more time around other rices. It’s sure to have a profound impact on how you view rice matters.

But that’s not to say that white rice is inherently bad either. We would be foolish to completely abolish white rice, for it has contributed to some dishes in ways you probably never even knew about.

Just the other day at the carry out counter of my local Panda Express I heard a man say he “didn’t want white rice with his egg foo yung, he wanted brown rice.”

Now listen, I’ve personally never worked in a Chinese restaurant, but my spouse worked in a Chinese restaurant and I have lots of friends who work in Chinese restaurants (so I’m obviously not a riceist). And in 99.999% of cases the so-called “brown rice” you’re getting with your Egg Foo Yung is just white rice with a dark soy sauce on it. Not only that, but Egg Foo Yung is not even a dish that is eaten in The Middle Kingdom. It is a mere invention of the Western Imperialists, a classic case of cultural appropriation. In Mainland China, they don’t eat cats, they don’t eat bats, and they certainly don’t eat Egg Foo Yung. So shame on you!

Rice is something that should bring us together, not pull us apart. What a sad state of affairs when no one listens and no one is talking to each other.

And while everyone is trying to win the rice wars, we forget just how beautiful it is. Rice is a culinary gift straight from heaven’s table that pairs well with everything: from the shabbiest leftovers in your fridge, to the most immaculate entrée at a five-star restaurant. Rice makes everything better and deserves to be acknowledged and celebrated.

Rice Wars (米饭战争)