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Rice bowl

Posted by Steve E on April 15, 2005

In Reply to: Rice bowl posted by Brian from Shawnee on April 15, 2005

: : : What does a "rice bowl" mean?

: : One meaning is the actual bowl from which rice is eaten. Another is an analogy with the N Americam 'wheat bowl', a large area where wheat grows well (why 'bowl', ask me not!) Thus, an area where rice is grown extensively and relatively easily is a 'rice bowl'. Is this what you want? Some context to the expression might elicit a more relevant answer to your question.

: Well, I know it's not referring to a football game. But I sort-of remembered a phrase using "rice bowl" in a figurative way, and a little googling turned up one instance of "who took a dump in your rice bowl?", meaning "dude, what is your problem?"

: Also, Operation Rice Bowl is the name of a Catholic charity here in the U.S. The idea is for a children to give up a snack each day and place an equivalent amount of money in a cardboard representation of a rice bowl. The money from each skipped snack would buy a bowl of rice for a hungry child somewhere.

I believe phrases such as Rice Bowl, Wheat Bowl, Corn Belt, Breadbasket are used to describe a geographic area of a country where that product (rice, wheat, etc)is most widely grown and harvested. Wheat Bowl and Breadbasket are oftentimes used interchangeably in the US for the area that produces the major supply of wheat. Don't know how these phrases started or why the reference to "Bowl" or "Belt".

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