The tale of the crying rice: The role of unpaid foodwork and learning in food waste prevention and reduction in Indonesian households

Abstract

There is an old tale wherein a farmer heard a sobbing sound coming from her field. She looked around the rice paddy only to find that the source of the sound was a handful of unharvested rice plants that were left behind during the harvest. Interviews conducted with women who are in charge of household food provisioning in Bogor, Indonesia, regarding their strategies on reducing food waste revealed that they often recount this folktale to their children. Many of the women still admonish their children not to waste food in their households by repeating the following pepatah (saying): “finish all your food or the rice will cry.".