Yet another thread about food arices

Hi I'm Chinese. /facepalm

Rice is a side dish. The main course will always be a slab of animal meat.

Rice pilaf, spanish rice, etc, are side dishes.

Fried rice in itself can be a complete meal.

Sticky rice is always gonna be a main component of a meal, but without side dishes, sticky rice is useless. But without sticky rice and only side dishes, the meal isn't complete either. Imagine curry without rice. That's just weird. But then imagine plain rice without curry. That's weird too.

I eat a ton of rice. I'd say about 1/3 of the meals I eat, I eat with rice. And about 70% of the time, the meal would not make sense without rice to go along with it.

I think it's more appropriate to think of rice as a base for a meal rather than a side or main dish.