When my family moved to the US, my parents were appalled when they heard of a tradition of throwing rice at wedding couples. How could you literally throw food away? When the term “eating rice” in Chinese means meal time, and the three meals of the day (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) are literally morning rice, noontime rice, and evening rice. Rice is food. Rice is for sustenance. Every grain counts. Leaving a few in your bowl is not equivalent to leaving crumbs at the dinner table to be swept carelessly off the table to the floor. Throwing away rice is equivalent to ungratefulness. Although for some throwing away rice is an inevitable part of life, for many Chinese still throwing away rice is sinful.
