A proverbial saying in Japan states: "The farmer spends eighty-eight efforts on rice from planting to crop." This teaches the sense of mottainai and gratitude for the farmer and for rice itself.
There is a Sri Lankan saying, 'deyyange haal kawila', meaning 'having eaten God’s rice'. This is used to explain a crazy person or his actions in general with humour. The reasoning behind this is that when the rice harvest is collected, a small fraction of the best part is dedicated to the gods and that is sacred - if a person eats that, they will be afflicted with curses and lose mental stability/act crazy.
The expression for eating a meal in Burmese, "Htamin Sar" means to eat rice. It is similar in the Thai "gin kow". Vietnamese use the phrase "ăn cơm" in the same way. Likewise, the Chinese use the phrase "eat rice", "chi fan", in the common greeting "Ni chi fan le ma?" to mean literally "Have you eaten rice?", and by extension, "How are you doing?".
Laotian culture has a saying, "annokao bin biao", literally "grains of rice", which is a metaphor for great effort or exertion.
In the Philippines there is an expression "One grain of rice equals one bead of sweat.". This saying may be seen in the context of the high level of labour involved in the production of rice. It may be said that there is a psychological element to this expression in encouraging people to appreciate the effort that has gone into putting food on their plates and perhaps suggesting that they do not waste food. This may be seen in a similar context to Christians who say Grace before eating food.
source:wikipedija
