Psychologists say those who eat rice are psychologically different than wheat eaters; here’s why they are more likely to be loyal friends and spouses

While eating rice is frowned upon by fitness enthusiasts, rice eaters may just be more loyal than those who eat wheat. What you eat may not just determine your weight but also reveal details of your psychological makeup. That’s right! A study conducted by a group of American and Chinese scientists found that there are significant differences in the way how rice lovers and wheat eaters approach life and relationships. According to a study conducted by Chinese and American academics, residents in southern China's rice-growing provinces exhibit greater levels of holistic thinking, devotion to friends and family, and a lower propensity for conflict than residents of the northern wheat provinces.

The idea that cultivating wheat or rice creates distinct cultures that may endure for generations even among non-farmers is initially supported by the psychological distinctions between the populations in the two areas.

Rice Eats Are More Loyal, Claims Stidy

In an interview with The Telegraph, Thomas Talhelm psychologist and research scholar at the University of Virginia in the US and first author of the study, explained why rice lovers are more prone to be team players and value loyalty. “Rice agriculture provides a disincentive for conflict,” he said.


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Farmers who cultivated rice needed to be more cooperative with neighbours to coordinate flooding and dredging of paddy fields. Growing wheat takes much less time and effort, making farmers more self-reliant without relying on neighbours.

Rice Lovers Are Less Likely To Favour Divorce Too

The study was conducted on 1,162 university students from China. The participants came from both the wheat-producing northern regions and the rice-farming areas in the south. Researchers used a range of psychological assessments to identify whether people from the two regions displayed distinct patterns of thinking and behaviour.

The results showed that individuals from northern China were more likely to exhibit individualism and to favour analytical reasoning. Southerners, on the other hand, tended to show more interdependence, a more comprehensive grasp of circumstances, and a higher sense of commitment to close relationships.

The researchers also observed that interdependent people might help relatives who are struggling financially. Additionally, they are more tolerant of actions like bribery.

The study also found variations in the stability of marriages. In the past ten years, divorce rates were lower in southern China—where rice farming is more prevalent—than in the north, which grows wheat. Researchers hypothesised that marriages in rice-farming societies may be less likely to terminate in divorce because of their higher propensity to avoid conflict.

Swami Vivekananda once spoke against having rice. He claimed that eating rice makes people lethargic and sleepy. It makes the mind and body inactive. He also encouraged people to have rotis in the Rama Krishna Mission, at a time when rice was the backbone of the Bengali diet. “Starchy food which generates sugar in the system is most injurious to health. Even horses and cows become sickly and diseased if kept within doors and fed on wheat and rice, but they get well again if allowed to graze freely on the tender and growing herbage in the meadows. There is very little starchy substance in grass and nuts and other green edible herbs,” he noted.

However, the disdain for rice notwithstanding, studies do hint that although rice does make you sleepy, it can make you a better team player and loyal.