We all have ideas about what kinds of foods are good or bad to eat. As a result, people from one culture often think the foods that people from another culture eat are unacceptable. Many people would find it terrible to eat rats, but there are forty-two different cultures whose people regard rats as proper food. Food likes and dislikes do not always seem related to nutrition. For example, broccoli   is first on a list of the most nutritious common vegetables, but it is twenty-first on a list of vegetables that Americans like most to eat. Tomatoes are sixteenth on the list of most nutritious vegetables, but they are first on the list of vegetables that Americans like most to eat. But dislikes is not the only reason why some cultures will not eat a certain food. In some cultures, certain foods are taboo. Taboo is a word from the language of the Fiji Islands that is used to describe something that is forbidden. We do not usually think about why certain things are taboo in our culture. One example is that Americans do not eat dogs, although people from some other cultures regard them as good food. In the United States, dogs are very important to people as pets. They are usually regarded as part of the family, almost like a child in some cases. In addition, dogs have value as protection against criminals  . Actually, the dog's place in society as a companion makes the dog taboo as food. Scientists believe that most food likes and dislikes are a result of the ways of life of different people. People will not eat pets such as dogs. Americans eat a lot of beef because there is plenty of land for raising cattle and their meat can be shipped cheaply for long distances by railroads. The writer uses the example of rat as food to show that   _  .
some cultures may seem rather strange understanding between different cultures is easy people may eat very different things eating properly is very difficult