I voted noodles, even though I'm pretty sure the rest of my take will land me in the "barbarian" category.
Most rice dishes I've had, seem like they'd actually be better if you just had more of the rest of the dish. Like a bowl of fried meat and veggies would be great, but you add rice to stretch it out to make a meal with less.
But most pasta dishes, it's the reverse, and it's "stuff added to pasta", the pasta is the essential base. And if you were to strip them all the way down, plain pasta with some butter or oil is way better than plain rice with butter.
But for background, I'm from the type of family that when my mom serves spaghetti, Dad still looks around the table and goes "where are the potatoes?"
