1.
cooking rice; (historical) cook (who prepares rice)
The act of cooking rice; historically, also a servant or low-ranking worker whose job was to cook rice. In modern usage, mainly refers to the act of cooking rice or a person who does so.
Historically, 飯炊き referred to a domestic worker specifically tasked with cooking rice, often of low social standing in the household hierarchy. In the modern context, the term is more neutral and refers simply to the task of cooking rice.