alt Hacker News> Whether that's a big deal or not depends on the person, their finances, how much rice the family eats, etc etc.
There's a nasty interaction among those concerns: as the basic staple food of the diet, rice is consumed in larger amounts by poorer people who can't afford real food, like meat.
Which means that a spike in the price of rice is effectively targeted at people who can't afford to substitute other foods.
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I think Japanese rice-centric framing of meals is also of note, it's not universal across East Asia - I mean, allegedly, bowl of rice next to ramen is meme worthy to people from China, but it's just a menu item in Japan.
Corn is still cheaper. If you're really poor in Asia you're eating corn (and complaining about it).
>rice is consumed in larger amounts by poorer people who can't afford real food
Um, rice is real food too, right?
Wait. Dod I read this right? Are you saying rice isn't real food but meat is?
I understand most cultures over-appreciate meat, but treating a premium carb source like rice lowly is a surprise.