Like most Filipinos, we were raised on rice as the staple. We normally eat dishes with rice and we only eat bread on occasions. But we never eat corn as the staple. However, corn is popular in the southern part of the country. Corn as a staple shot to the limelight because of the boxers who claimed that they get stronger with corn. Even Manny Pacquiao used to eat corn although he now prefers rice. Corn is the poor folks in the provinces. There was a time in the 1970s when the rice shortage was critical such that the government advised the populace to turn to corn. My mother cooked corn sometimes but we would have rice whenever it is available.
I like both. Often, I cook some rice with canned corn or peas mixed in. I like the canned Mexican corn with the peppers in it. Sometimes I add some tuna or hamburger and a can of spicy hot Ro-tex tomatoes.
Of the 4 major staples worldwide, corn, wheat, rice, and potatoes, I only grow 2 in my garden. Wheat and rice we have to buy. Rice is the least used at our house but I like it too.
I don't eat corn much although I like it. I was at Whole Foods Hot Bar a few nights ago and had a side of the most delicious corn recipe. It was yellow corn, milk, butter, pimento, salt and pepper. That's all. With the corn I had an equally delicious baked cod that they must have soaked for awhile to make it as tender as it was. The ingredients they used for the cod dish was a white wine and dijon mustard sauce with milk, butter, flour, garlic, salt, and pepper. Then a thin slice of lemon on top.
We as Asian have rice as a staple. But as time goes by we grow in our tastes for different staples. Sometimes we have sandwiches only for the whole day. Bread and oatmeal have become a steady kind of food in our home because of it's healthfulness. Taste and variety changes throughout time. Now we even eat humus chips! Though we have rice as a staple we add brown rice, black rice, barley and lentils to the rice so it's healthier to eat.
I have always viewed potatoes as being a staple, perhaps because we grew potatoes at home, growing up, and always had a stocked potato cellar. We grew other things as well, of course, but nearly every meal include potatoes, while we had corn only a few times a week. As a kid, I seldom had rice, and when we had rice, it was always white rice. I eat rice far more more often now because my wife substitutes rice for potatoes in a lot of recipes, quite successfully. Rice is, I suppose, healthier than starch, but I prefer potatoes.
We are rice eaters. I like rice for breakfast or dinner. I will have rice pudding often, fried rice as much as I can. Potatoes not not eaten much in our house, mashed potatoes are made and not really eaten by the kids. French fries are the most often eaten but now they will not even eat that. I do like potatoe salad but no one else in the house eats it so I do not make it often. We eat corn maybe once a month maybe more often on the cob during the summer.