Rice or flour: which is the ultimate staple? The comparison results are surprising

Among China's three major staple foods, corn is clearly inferior in status to rice and noodles. In our daily lives, whether it's noodles or rice noodles, steamed buns or steamed rice, they are all around us. No matter what dishes you like, when it comes to staples, people's choices are almost only rice and noodles. So is rice the dominant one, or do noodles have the upper hand? Let me analyze it step by step.

1. Which has a longer history? Rice vs. wheat

According to reliable archaeological records, China was already cultivating rice in the Yangtze River basin as early as 7,000 years ago, while wheat has a cultivation record dating back 13,000 years, and China's earliest wheat cultivation record dates back 4,000 years.

Winner: wheat

2. A contest of variety

What foods can you think of that are made from rice? Besides all kinds of rice dishes, there are also rice flour, ersi, rice noodles, nian gao, and more, with a variety too rich to list. Similarly, just the types of noodles alone number in the hundreds, let alone all kinds of noodle snacks and noodle products. The sheer quantity and rich variety are heights that no other ingredient can reach, so this round can only be called a tie.

Winner: tie

3. Dietary habits

It is often said that southerners love rice and northerners love noodles. This statement itself is not wrong, but if examined closely, it does not hold up to scrutiny. In fact, both the north and the south have outstanding rice- and noodle-based foods, but on the whole it is indeed true that rice products are more abundant in the south and wheat-based foods are more abundant in the north. China has a vast territory, and depending on climate and environment, dietary habits naturally differ, so here it is still hard to determine a winner.

Winner: tie

4. Output

Both wheat and rice have large outputs, but which is larger? According to statistics, in 2015 China's rice planting area reached 30,213.2 thousand hectares, with an output of 208.245 million tonnes; the wheat planting area reached 24,141.3 thousand hectares, with an output of 130.187 million tonnes. From this data, rice output is clearly higher than wheat output, which also means that overall grain consumption of rice is higher.

Winner: rice

Summary: Rice and noodles each have 1 win, 1 loss, and 2 ties, so in the end it is still hard to determine a winner. In fact, regarding whether rice or noodles are more popular, we can never get a definite answer. Because every person's tongue has its own preferences, and our own likes cannot be forced on others, nor can they be swayed by others. So, dear readers, do you prefer rice or noodles? Come and join the vote:

If you like my articles and food photography, you are welcome to follow the WeChat public account Xiamian Gei Ni Chi [xiamian527]. Da Xiong, a food photographer focused on noodle culture, will show you a different world of food.