TRADITIONAL RICE SHOP(RT55)

Rice is the staple food of Cantonese people, and in the 1950s and 1960s, every family had a rice bowl at home. In the 1950s and 1960s, every household had a rice bowl. At that time, there were "rice shops" that specialised in selling rice, and buying rice was called "buying rice". Some rice shops also sold miscellaneous foodstuffs, such as firewood, rice, oil and salt, gradually forming the prototype of a grain and oil shop. The rice sold in the rice shops was divided into different grades, which were carried in large wooden barrels and placed in front of the door. As the price of each type of rice was different, the shopkeeper would insert a wooden label into the rice, stating the name of the rice and its price. White rice is usually sold by the catty and packaged in the shop's own "paper corners". If the family was large, the rice would be bought in sacks, and the shop would provide delivery service at no extra charge. However, with the emergence of supermarkets in the 1970s, the culture of rice selling changed drastically, with rice being packaged in individual plastic bags, and the public began to change their habit of hoarding and buying as much as they could eat. In the face of such changes, the business of the grain and oil shops declined and was gradually phased out, and to this day, grain and oil shops have become a historical term in Hong Kong.