@xyzzy
Wish-fulfillment. They want to go to another world and escape the cruel confines of their society without abandoning their favorite things about their culture and civilization. Can't blame em too much, but it sure is immersion breaking.
What is really immersion breaking is that they always somehow manage to get white rice, a type that is considered a luxury good and only became consumed outside of the rich in the 1900 in Japan, with production being automated in the 1980s. Now many series use a western fantasy setting, and white rice milling machines were actually invented in germany in the 1800s but that is still far after any fantasy setting. This also doesn't address that what we know as white rice was specifically bred for. This means there would need to be a culture that understands agricultural breeding and has a significant consumption of rice favoring a white appearance and texture similar to what we have today.