在探討影響食品安全的因素時，我們往往只注意食品的「毒性」，而忽略了食用者本身料理食物的方式及「飲食習慣」所造成的危害。以檳榔來說，臺灣政府不斷宣傳檳榔為「致癌物」，企圖以科學論述勸導民眾不要吃檳榔，但是，成效卻相當有限。民眾對於檳榔的認知、體驗與態度，似乎與官方及現代醫學的說法有不小的差異。事實上，臺灣及中國南方嚼食檳榔的習俗已延續數千年之久，嚼食檳榔的方式也與東南亞、南亞等地的風尚相當類似，亦即嚼食由檳榔子、荖藤和熟石灰所組成的「檳榔嚼塊」。在傳統中國與臺灣社會中，檳榔不僅被用來當作治療疾病、防止瘟疫的藥物，也被用來當作社交、婚禮場合的禮物，甚至被用來當作宗教祭祀的祭品或是行使巫術時的法物。嚼食檳榔可以建立或強化族群與文化認同。換句話說，嚼食檳榔是由文化薰習所形成的飲食習慣，單純的健康論述很難切斷嚼食者之間的文化紐帶。若要改變民眾嚼食檳榔的習慣，必須提供具有類似功能的「替代品」。

Scholars usually impute problems with food safety to the toxicity of food itself rather than to the eater’s preparation of food or dietary habits. A discussion of the use of areca or betel nut is instructive. The Taiwanese government frequently states that areca/betel nut is carcinogenic, and attempts to dissuade people from chewing it through scientific discourse. The official propaganda against betel-chewing, however, seems to be ineffective. The general public’s understanding and experience of and attitude toward betel-chewing seems to be very different from that of officials and scientists. In fact, the custom of betel-chewing is several thousand years old and has survived from ancient times to the present in Taiwan and South China. People there prepared and chewed “Betel quid” in much the same way as did people in South and Southeast Asia. Areca/betel nuts, Piper betel, and slaked Lime are the three essential ingredients of betel quid in these areas. Areca/betel nut had been widely used as a medicinal drug to treat diseases or ward off pestilence in traditional Chinese and Taiwanese society. It was also used as a gift for symbolic purposes on some social occasions, and for religious sacrifice or as a magical object in some ritual ceremonies. Betel-chewing played a role fostering and consolidating ethnic and cultural identity. In other words, the dietary habit of betel-chewing is a social custom and closely related to cultural edification. Therefore, it is difficult for health discourse alone to sever the cultural ties between betel-chewers. In order to change the habit, we must provide a substitute for betel quid with similar functions.