[Desirable and undesirable food customs, practices and habits]

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role of habits and practices in shaping human dietary behavior. After defining terms and concepts, the origin of habits is briefly reviewed and ideas on the strategies to modify them are discussed. Habits stand among the most important determinants of food consumption, but their extreme complexity is poorly understood; a great number of physiological, psychological, economic, technological and sociocultural factors participate. Even though some habits are deleterious to health, many others are beneficial or irrelevant; while the first should be corrected, beneficial habits should be reinforced. By their own nature, habits are modifiable, and at the same time quite stable. Modification is possible, but prudence and patience are required.