Where are the articles?

Question

In a practice phrase teaching verb conjucation and pronoun usage, it went as follows, "Yo como mucho arroz pero Usted come carne". If arroz is a masculin noun and carne is feminine, why wouldn't it read "Yo como mucho el arroz pero Usted come la carne". Estoy aprendieno Español.

Answer 1

Because both arroz and carne are uncountable nouns and in this context there is no need to use the article, as you are referring to them in general. Just like in English:

I eat a lot of rice (not the rice): Como mucho arroz. (In general, not specific rice at a specific occasion)

You eat meat (not the meat): Come carne.

(Yo) Como mucho arroz pero Usted come carne.