Betel nut

Betel 'scissors'; for cutting the husk off the nut

When I was in India (way back in the 1990’s) one of the things I remember being a bit disturbed by was the habit of chewing Betel. It’s a nut, and is chewed, or placed next to the gums, along with some other bits and bobs… usually a Betel leaf, smeared with lime (stone) paste, and some tobacco leaf, and it gives you some sort of high (not particularly strong, probably a bit like chewing tobacco or something).

Always keen to try new things we (myself and travelling companions at the time) had a go at chewing some betel, and never even got to the stage where we got any noticeable buzz from it as it was bloody disgusting and we all spat it out after about half a minute.

But the worst thing about Betel (if there can be anything worse than the taste of the stuff) is what it does to your mouth. It turns your saliva bright red, and your lips, and your gums, and your teeth…and Betel chewers go around spitting great gob-fulls of red slobber everywhere. Nearly 20 years after being in India I have vivid memories of walking down narrow city streets that were spattered with red gob, and looking at people who looked like they’d just been lunching on raw flesh, with red slobber dribbling down their chins.

Here in Sri Lanka people also chew the stuff. Generally it’s the less well off people that seem to like it; a bag of Betel is about Rs 20. I expect there’s all kinds of statistics about the correlation of poverty with dental hygiene (like in certain parts of Leeds for instance) but no amount of tooth brushing (with Clogate, presumably) will get the red stuff off. So not a good habit if you care about the way you look.

Betel scissors in action, tied to the wall with a piece if string, outside the village shop.

A piece of Betel.

Ingredients; Betel, dried tobacco, bag of lime paste, all wrapped up in a Betel leaf. 

A dab of lime paste...as far as I understand this is paste made from lime stone. 

Smear the lime paste on the Betel leaf...

wrap it all up and stick it next to your gum...

and give it a good chew, lovely!

Lets face it, no habit forming substances are good for making you look pretty…smoking makes your skin go yellow and wrinkly, too much booze gives you a red nose and/or face, heroin turns you into a living skeleton etc etc…none of them are great for the cosmetic appearance (never mind the internal organs) but Betel, well, there’s just no need! Obviously I suppose I’m biased…I can afford to have other habits if I choose (and I do have one or two, no one’s perfect) but I’m really glad it’s not a big thing in England, because then I’d have to look at some of the horrors I see in Leeds, all shuffling about spitting red dribble everywhere. 

Not great for the teeth...