A Keyhole into Burma - Betel nut chewing, it's as gross as it looks
Initially, I was convinced that there was a nationwide dental crisis in Burma. People everywhere, men and women, had deeply stained reddish-brown teeth with gums so ostensibly diseased that even the lips and chin suffered discoloration. Unable to ignore this any longer, I inquired about the epidemic and was subsequently school on the revolting art of chewing betel nut.
Betel nut chewing is a wildly popular Burmese habit, with all the outward appeal of chewing tobacco (but messier), having the general effect of a cup of coffee. The exact origins of this appetite killing habit are in question, but in places like India, it's been nauseating visitors for thousands of years. I located one vague mention of betel nut in a Burmese book indicating that it's been in vogue locally from royalty on down for at least 150 years.
There's a betel stand on virtually every street corner, usually consisting of just a tiny table with all the ingredients laid out and a very wired up, and presumably eternally single, guy with red drool down his chin preparing the chews. A few tiny pieces of betel are set in a leaf, along with lime paste, and tobacco. There's a betel-for-girls as well, where the tobacco is replaced with a sweet flavoring. The whole mess is wrapped up in the leaf like a tiny burrito and popped into the mouth as is.
In addition to being faced with a disagreeable betel smile hundreds of time a day, non-chewers also have to take care as to where they step as the streets and sidewalks are one giant betel spittoon. Never mind the sanctity of your footwear, one needs to dodge these minefields of fresh, red/brown goo so as not to sully the lobby floor of one's guesthouse.
Leif Pettersen, originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota, contributed three stories to the upcoming anthology "To Myanmar (Burma) With Love: A Connoisseur's Guide" published by Things Asian Press. His personal blog, Killing Batteries, and his staggeringly vast travelogue could fill a lifetime of unauthorized work breaks, if one were so inclined.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Oct 26th 2007 @ 1:08PM
Editor said...
Well, did you try the betel nut? It's not that bad, and chewing one small packet isn't going to turn your mouth into a drooly red mess. There are plenty of Burmese people outside Burma who manage to chew it a bit more discreetly. It's not illegal, and it's an experience worth trying!
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Oct 27th 2007 @ 11:16AM
Leif said...
No I did not try the betel nut for the same reason I never tried maggot soup – it made my stomach turn.
That said, I might have been coaxed into trying betel (for posterity), but as you must know, us Westerners have to be careful what we stick in our orifices in Asia and no part of the street betel preparation process looked to be hygienic.
I wonder if I can get it in Minneapolis?
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Oct 29th 2007 @ 11:28PM
Editor said...
I bet you could get it in Minneapolis - there's a reasonable size Southeast Asian population there, right? It's common in the South Pacific as well.
Despite how it may have looked, it really is far less gross than maggot soup. It's also vegan, which is, as a rule, less gross than anything made from animals. Sanitation is likely not a problem - I imagine the lime would take care of that. Betel nut probably has some magical antiseptic properties that kill germs from other foods, anyway. The 'girl' version is mixed with cardamom and cinnamon or nutmeg, I believe, which is very unthreatening. I think the tobacco must contribute to the slobbery red mess, because I tried it and did not have that happen to me at all. It got rather dry after a little while, actually.
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