Black rice is also called u0022forbidden riceu0022 because, according to this u003ca href=u0022https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/10/05/445316722/how-forbidden-black-rice-flourished-for-millenniau0022 target=u0022_blanku0022 rel=u0022noreferrer noopeneru0022u003eNPR articleu003c/au003e, it was reserved only for the emperor and royalty in ancient China.