在西方人心目中，和中国联系最为密切的基本食物是大米。长期以来，大米在中国人的饮食中占据很重要的地位，以至于有谚语说“巧妇难为无米之炊”。中国南方大多数种植水稻，人们通常以大米为主食；而华北大部分地区因为过于寒冷或过于干燥，无法种植水稻，那里的主要作物是小麦。在中国，有些人用面粉做面包，但大多数人用面粉做馒头和面条。
In the eyes of Westerners, the basic food that is most closely connected with China is rice. For a long time, rice plays a very important role in Chinese people's diet .There is a very famous proverb goes like this: Even a clever woman [housewife] cannot cook a meal without rice(You cannot make bricks without straw). Most rice is grown in southern China and people usually eat rice as staple food. While it is too cold or too dry to grow rice in most areas of northern China , the main crop is wheat. In China, some people make bread with flour, but most people use it to make steamed buns and noodles。