米，是客家人的主食，傳承自漢民族的稻米文化，從農耕生產、生活方式、飲食習慣到信仰習俗無所不包，並在客家傳統社會中形成了有自己族群特色的稻米文化。本文從六堆地區的俗話諺語著手，探討客家人與禾、穀、米、飯、粄等不同形式的稻米之意義和價值，並透過這些與稻米相關的客家俗話諺語，為客家人眼中的稻米文化作一客觀的詮釋，通過研究稻米文化能清楚地了解到客家精神的傳承軌跡。本研究採質性研究法，收集六堆地區俗諺語書籍作為研究工具，將資料進行分類與分析。研究發現：由客家人對稻米相關詞彙的豐富與多樣性，就可以見出稻米對客家文化的重要性。客家俗話諺語中的稻米文化可分為兩類，耕作部分，強調不違農時，要適時耕種，呈現客家人重農性格；在飲食部分，米穀通常是生計的象徵，飯多具有貶義，特別是盛飯的器具，因為米飯得來不易，有時當思無時苦，粄通常強調形狀與軟黏的特性。在俗話諺語中反映客家人勤儉惜福的人生觀、務實求穩的工作觀、愛物惜物的飲食觀。總而言之，客家人主張勤於耕作，米穀是財富象徵，但飯在客家人眼中，能少吃就少吃，特別是毋需耗費體力時或毋需工作的夜飯，就少吃或不吃，多吃飯是代表好吃懶做的形象。

Paddy has been Hakka people's staple food, which derived from the tradition of the paddy culture deeply rooted in the Han nationality. The paddy culture appeared on farming, lifestyles, eating habits, social beliefs, and customs involved significant ethnic characteristics in the traditional Hakka society. By analysing proverbs and slang of Liudui, this article was to explore the meanings and values between Hakka people and paddy in different forms and to make an objective explanation in Hakka people's opinion. The inheritance of Hakka spirit could be realized clearly through the study of the paddy culture. This was a qualitative study collecting books about proverbs and slang of Liudui. And these data were classified and analyzed further. The research showed the importance of paddy to Hakka culture from the variety and abundance of vocabularies regarding paddy. The paddy culture embedded in Hakka proverbs and slang could be divided into two categories. One was cultivation. It stressed that farming should obey cultivating time and also presented the character of Hakka physiocracy. The other was diet. Paddy was the symbol of living, yet it carried derogatory meanings, especially utensils. Because paddy was not easy to get, it should be treasured before a shortage of it. The paddy cake was highlighted by its shape as well as its soft and sticky features. Of Hakka proverbs and slang, they reflected the life philosophy of being diligent and thrift, the working philosophy of being realistic and stable, and the diet philosophy of cherish. To sum up, Hakka people advocated they should be diligent on cultivation. Paddy and grains were symbols of wealth, however, Hakka people ate paddy as less as possible, especially paddy of dinner because they don't have to work afterward. Eating much paddy meant being gluttonous and averse to work.