![]() ![]() ![]() The custom pervades Asia, has no gender barriers and embraces all ages and classes. ![]() This translates to one-tenth of the human race, and is recognisable by the ubiquitous red-stained lips and reddish-blackened teeth of the users. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that globally 600 million people today still indulge in betel chewing, also known as chewing betel quid. Is it any wonder then that the chewing habit spread to the western Pacific, across the Indian subcontinent, reaching as far as the fringes of East Africa to Madagascar in the west Melanesia to the Santa Cruz Islands in the east southern China in the north, and Papua New Guinea in the south? The relaxing and alerting effects of the quid exudes a general sense of heightened well-being more intense than caffeine or nicotine. Image source: Betel Chewing in South-East Asia by Dawn F. The leaves of a vine, the nut of a palm, with a slather of calcium hydroxide paste – this magical combination of the betel quid has excited and intoxicated royalty and peasantry since antiquity. Royalty to Peasantry, Weddings to Funerals: A Millennia-old Habit ![]()
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January 2023
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