Seed of the Oryza sativa

When it comes to eating rice, locals tell me that they need to eat it in order to feel full. Consequently, when I do not take rice (as I prefer bread or noodles) with my other dishes, they look at me with mortification. If my companions are able to recover from this mortification, one of the two scenarios, as elaborated below, materialize:

Scenario One
Companions: How can you be full without eating rice?!
Me: But I am eating potatoes. (At this point, I must then explain the starch benefits of potatoes) Potatoes are also filled with starch and can be a replacement for rice. (Then I think to myself, how do you think the Irish fulfilled their starch-nutrient needs?!)
Companions: No, potatoes are 菜 (here, 菜 is used to refer to vegetables).

Scenario Two
Companions: How can you be full without eating rice?!
Me: During college, I generally ate bread. At home, I always had the option of various breads and noodles.
Companions: Guess you're still not used to the food here. You are a *香蕉人 (directly translated, "banana").

*In the U.S., it highly discriminatory to call an individual of Asian descent a "banana" or "twinkie." These terms are generally directed at individuals of Asian descent who try to be and/or think they are white (whatever identifying as white encompasses). These individuals purposely become friends with white people only and may feel superior to other Asians. However, in China, I have discovered that the term banana does not necessarily encompass these qualities. Nonetheless, each time someone calls me this here, I am still (a bit) horrified. Instead, it is almost a colloquial version of the terms Chinese-American or Chinese-"X" citizenship from a country where the white population is/seems to be the majority. Here, "banana" is directed toward individuals, like myself, who are ethnically Chinese but were born and/or grew up in the U.S. for the majority of their lives. Thus, these individuals have the cultural habits of white people. These cultural habits, in terms of food (as mentioned previously), may include replacing rice with potatoes and preferring bread over rice.