Text 3 Myths, fallacies and fads (一时的风尚) have been built up over centuries. They change a bit but they are endurable and keep coming back in a slightly different form. From the medicine man to the present food faddist, it has been a profitable business to exploit them. But many people sincerely believe them. The primitive hunter believed that his courage would be increased if he ate the heart of a hero or a lion. This is one myth that most of us can laugh about, but don’t be too sure someone doesn’t still believe this. The belief that fish is brain food may have orginated in some areas where protein foods were scarce except for fish. It may well have been that those pregnant women and infants who ate fish were more intelligent than those who ate exclusively vegetables, fruits and grains. A relatively new fact resulting from research has shown that the number of brain cells is smaller when the protein eaten by the mother and the baby is lower than it should be. In that case, fish was a brain food, but so are all sources of protein. Many religions use food for symbolism as in the bread and wine of communion or in the restriction of certain foods on special occasions such as the use of meats on fast days by the Catholic or the use of pork by the Jews and Mohammedans(伊斯兰教徒). The rules for slaughtering animals by the Jews and the Mohammedans are another example. And to a Hindu(印度教的信仰者), a cow is a sacred animal protected from slaughter and from use as food. Other foods are forbidden to Hindus and the most pious are strict vegetarians who do not even eat eggs. Many young people today are turning to Hinduism and Buddhism and adopting the food restrictions of those religions. Class and wealth determine food habits also. In many cultures, the lower classes were forbidden to eat some foods. These were usually reserved for the higher classes. The use of white rice in many Asian countries was limited to the wealthy because they could afford the cost of milling. This constituted status. When people came to Hawaii they found that white rice was available to everyone, but they still felt that they had reached a higher status even though the white rice was lower in nutritional value than the whole grain rice. Food gives emotional satisfaction in many ways. Some people eat because they are frustrated and unhappy. The reducing diets which promise that you can eat your weight off appeal to this kind of person. Milk is tied of memories of home and mother so people away from home drink more milk. The scare technique of telling people that their food is poisoned by sprays or chemical fertilizers, or does not have adequate nutritive value because it is grown on worn-out soil, seems to be modern. These people claim that organic fertilizer is the only way to grow high value foods. Actually, if soil is worn out, the nutritive value of a pound of food grown on it is the same as that grown on soil fertilized either organically or inorganically. There simply will be more pounds growing on the fertilized field. The highest yield of all is reported by some as coming from soil which is fertilized both ways. According to the text, food habits are vetermined by all of the following except ______ .

A. social status
B. preference
C. religion
D. belief