240 consumers from 3 French towns were invited to the laboratory. Thee raw-milled and 3 parboiled rices were presented simultaneously. The consumers were asked about their preference and invited to mention the weak and strong points of each rice. Four distinct clusters of consumer were formed from differences in their preferences: for the aromatic rice, for the raw-milled rices, for the parboiled rices or for the most conventional rices. The weak and strong points gave the information we required to know the sensory salient characteristics which were liked and the defects of rices.