Is rice vermicelli tastier when it has a low rice content?

Text / John Tung Foundation

The labeling regulations for rice vermicelli made a complete about-face on the very day they took effect, July 1. Even if a product's ingredients contain just a single grain of rice, it can still put the words "rice vermicelli" on its packaging, leaving operators who followed the rules and had already revised their packaging in accordance with the law feeling quietly shortchanged. What's more, products with a rice content below 50% are not even required to state the proportion they contain, making the threshold looser than for products with a higher rice content. Consumers who want to know what they are buying have no way to judge and can only play a guessing game in front of the shelf.

Yesterday (the 9th), Hsinchu City councilors and rice vermicelli operators even held a "blind tasting" of rice vermicelli, heaping praise on the texture of those with 25% and 50% rice content. Hsu Hui-yu, director of the Food and Nutrition Section of the John Tung Foundation, said that according to research, eating something often turns into eating it habitually, which then develops into liking it. The tasters may already be accustomed to rice vermicelli with a low rice content, and are instead unaccustomed to the taste of pure 100% rice vermicelli.

Research has also found that people instinctively reject unfamiliar foods, but after repeated tries they grow more accustomed to them and begin to like them, and usually need to try something at least 10 to 30 times before gradually adapting to the taste. Just as most children dare not eat spicy food, yet children in Sichuan grow up used to spice and find food that isn't spicy enough tastes bad!