Traditional 飯 is a sound-and-meaning character. 食, compressed to 飠 on the left, points to food; 反 supplied the historical sound clue rather than the idea “reverse”. Simplified 饭 shortens the food side again to 饣 while leaving 反 in place. The component sketch here shows that older food-vessel side beside its sound partner, but scholars classify the character by those two jobs, not as one literal scene.
A piece of culture
Rice, and a whole meal 饭 can mean cooked rice, but it also stretches to an entire meal. Mandarin 吃饭 and Cantonese 食飯 both mean “eat a meal”, even when noodles, buns or other staples are on the table. That broader use reflects how central staple food is to the idea of a meal without pretending that every Chinese region eats the same way. One playful sound trap: say the new syllables mā and fàn together and they may remind you of máfan. But 妈饭 is not a normal word and is not 麻烦: 麻烦 (máfan; Cantonese 麻煩 maa4 faan4) means “troublesome” or “a hassle”. Different characters and tones, different meaning — a neat reason to watch both sound and writing.