Rice is one of the most consumed foods in the world, and it gives us insight into our relentless search for status and for affiliation.
Once rice is harvested for consumption, it’s brown. The outer layers of the rice husk contain the bran and many of the nutrients in the rice. And yet, most people, including many of the poorest people in any population, only eat white rice.
White rice takes more work to prepare for sale and leaves behind the vitamin-rich bran. We need to harvest more brown rice to make a single serving of white.
The origin of milling rice has to do with storage. Brown rice goes rancid much sooner, particularly in warm climates. As a result, white rice is more reliable–you’re not going to serve a bad batch.
The reliability led to status. Status in serving it and in consuming it. You might not have much, but at least you can eat white rice.
Once that signal is established, it becomes a sign of cultural affiliation. If your family or neighbors are doing it, it’s important to fit in. People insist that white rice is normal and that they prefer it, but that’s only because of their history and culture.
When white rice became a popular commodity and a signal, the demand for brown rice went down. Now it’s a specialty item, and that increases the price, apparently contradicting the very signal about status that made it unusual in the first place. (For some folks, the rarity, healthiness and price of brown rice make it a new sort of status symbol).
With improved supply chains and storage, brown rice is nearly as resilient as white rice is now, but the cultural trope remains. And because people like what they like, we’ve learned to prefer the blander flavor of the rice we were raised with.
If status and affiliation transform the market for one of our most basic commodities, it’s not hard to imagine what they do for wine, for clothing, or even for smartphones.