Teacher Trekker

Please note before reading this article that its subject is not the most sanitary. It contains both writing and images involving spitting saliva. If you have a weak stomach or are grossed out by any of the information below I apologize. However, the article pertains to the local customs you will witness while in Myanmar and many other parts of Asia. I have given you a fair warning.

Familiarity with Dirty Habits

Prior to my trip to Myanmar I only came across betel nut once. I was introduced to it by a friend of my tattoo artist while I was in Taiwan. He asked me to try it, but didn’t really explain what it was or how to use it. He only told me to chew it and spit out the juice. He smiled at me with a red grin and I followed suit. The flavor was unfamiliar and the portion was so large it was overwhelming and I spit it out almost instantaneously. Had he told me it was similar to chewing tobacco I would have had a much better idea of how to chew the betel nut, because that I was familiar with.

My introduction to chewing and dipping tobacco was from watching professional baseball, America’s national pastime. At that time in the 1980’s it was heavily used by many players in plain view on television. The use of the product has been ingrained to the culture of the sport. So much so that I was introduced to them as a teenager playing baseball at sleep away camp. I tried it and was never really a fan. Years later it reemerged in college when I started hanging out with kids from more rural backgrounds. Two of my college roommates were users. My final experience with chewing tobacco came during my time in the military where many soldiers used these products. From my perspective the use of chewing tobacco is as much a part of American culture as betel nut is in Myanmar.

My familiarity with chewing tobacco made it easier for me to understand betel nut culture and customs. That being said, chewing betel nut was a whole new experience for me, but I’m willing to try most things at least once, and this was no exception. In many ways chewing tobacco and betel nut are virtually the same, and in others the products are totally different.

What is betel nut?

The betel nut is a seed that comes from the Areca catechu palm tree. More accurately, it is not a nut, but rather a drupe (stone fruit) that grows in tropical environments primarily throughout Asian countries including, but not limited to India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Vietnam, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines and parts of Africa. Year round the areca tree yields a seed that is commonly referred to as the betel nut. Today, locals in these regions use the nut similar to the consumption of chewing and dipping tobacco as seen in Western countries.

The history of the consumption of betel nut can be dated back to the 1st century AD. “Sanskrit medical writings claimed that betel nut possessed 13 qualities found in the region of heaven. It is pungent, bitter, spicy, sweet, salty, and astringent. It was said to expel wind, kill worms, remove phlegm, subdue bad odors, beautify the mouth, induce purification, and kindle passion.” (Source)  It was and continues to be used by farmers and other laborers who spend many hours hard at work each day, but more about that in the effects section below. Now almost two thousand years later the use of betel nut is ingrained in the local traditions of many Asian cultures, and this was particularly the case in Myanmar.

How is it prepared?

Betel nut is most commonly prepared into something referred to as a quid. First, the nut is cut or shaved into small slivers. They are then placed in the middle of a betel leaf that has been coated with a lime paste that looks like a thin layer of Elmer’s glue. (More accurately it is calcium hydroxide powder that is mixed with water and known as slaked lime.) Then a mixture of local spices is sprinkled on top of the betel nut to produce a better flavor. Tobacco and other ingredients may also be included. This will vary depending on the individual vendor preparing the quids and your personal preference. Some vendors include a bit of fruit like orange, mango or even mango juice to sweeten the quid. A few I came across included a black liquid that was a mixture of tobacco, liquor, honey and spices. The contents are then wrapped inside the betel leaf and the process is complete. The betel quid is prepared and ready for consumption.

What are the effects of betel nut?

Most of the short term effects are the result of arecoline, a nicotinic acid-based alkaloid found in the betel nut. The compound is responsible for a person to experience increased alertness, increased stamina and euphoric feelings. Personally, it gave me a mild to moderate burst of energy. I found myself on buses tapping my feet and unnecessarily bopping to the music blasting in my headphones to drown out the sounds of local television programming. After a little while the feeling subsided and that was the point when locals would toss in another.

Since betel nut contains chemical compounds similar to nicotine, its users experience a narcotic effect. Traditions of the past continue today. Farmers and many people who live in rural areas often chew the nut for increased alertness, mild painkilling effects, appetite suppression and digestive assistance. Its consumption reminds me of how locals use of the coca leaf in parts of South America. After I tried it, I could totally relate. At times I was very locked in and able to write a great deal. (For example, most of this article was written on the back of a tuk tuk after a full day of touring and chewing betel nut with my guide in nearly 100 degree heat.) As a result, betel nut “is one of the most popular psychoactive substances in the world (fourth only after nicotine, alcohol, and caffeine)” and I can verify its potency. (Source)

Chewing betel nut also stimulates the flow of saliva that can supposedly also aid the digestive process and stimulate the appetite. Personally, I experienced no increased appetite while using betel nut. If anything it did the opposite as the chewing was an inadvertent substitute to eating snacks during the day. What I can confirm is the excessive amount of saliva that is created while chewing on a betel quid, but more on that later.

I would like to point out one side effect not commonly mentioned on the internet, but every local will remind you: do NOT swallow your saliva while chewing betel nut. Be careful if you do try it. Some residual juice does end up in your stomach even if you are spitting the vast majority of it out. If you are familiar with chewing tobacco or dip, then you will have no problem. If you are not, I warn you that you will probably swallow the juice, get the spins and possibly vomit.

One of the guys I was traveling with tried it with me the first time I had a quid in Myanmar. Our guide at the Shwedagon Pagoda got us some as we headed for lunch following our tour. He had no experience in chewing tobacco and that put him at a loss. He swallowed some of the juice. He got extremely light headed and needed to take a break for a few minutes. It could have triggered vomiting. I told him to eat something and drink some water. His queasiness went away a few minutes later.

Despite these detrimental side effects, betel nut is still marketed by companies as a means of solving many ailments. Despite the claims made by these natural health and medical companies, there is a lack of academic research on the subject that can confirm if they are beneficial to your health and can solve your medical conditions. Doctors in the past once prescribed cocaine and tobacco as remedies for ailments. Clearly, history has proven that big business, medical practitioners and their concerns for your health do not always mesh. Treat this as a narcotic and not as a viable cure for anything until medically proven.

Where do you find it?

On almost every block throughout urban centers and rural towns you can find someone preparing betel nut. These stands are literally everywhere. At one bus station there was a vendor between every bus office. As I was typing up a portion of this article during a tuk tuk ride I looked up and passed three stands by the time I finished this sentence.

They sell individual quids, but it’s more common that they are sold in packs of 4 – 6. The exact mixture of ingredients and size of each portion varied based on the stand. Most prepared in a small plastic bag with a toothpick to close the top. Some have a banana leaf inserted inside the bag to keep them fresh. Packs range in price from 150 – 300 kyat depending on who you are and how many you purchase. Some vendors put them in a small plastic shopping bag. Many locals were not even paying vendors, but I was unfamiliar with the connections they might have with each other. Others would purchase the individual ingredients at the market and make them on their own, but I don’t see that as a realistic option for your average tourist. In the grand scheme of things, it’s pennies to a foreigner, and I rarely made an issue of the varying price.

Although I bought a few packs I would always throw mine out at the end of the night. By the following morning the betel nut leaf wrapper turned a lime green color and often had small bubbles. I’m assuming that is some sort of oxidation. I didn’t want to risk eating a spoiled one and then actually getting sick from it. It was so cheap and easily accessible, I would just purchase more in the morning.

More often than not I would lose my pack at some point during the day. One I left on my seat when we changed buses in Magway. Another fell on the floor while I was searching through my daypack and by the time I realized, I couldn’t find it on the floor. I didn’t get the impression someone would steal it from me as that’s not the vibe I got from the Myanmari people. Every time we took a break at a rest stop, I always found a vendor or a local would offer me some from their pack. The only time they wouldn’t is when they were on their last one with a good distance away from the next rest stop. Clearly they’re addictive!

Who uses betel nut?

Back home in the United States the use of chewing and dipping tobacco is primarily a male dominated habit. I have zero recollection of ever seeing a woman use such products. During my time in Myanmar, I didn’t see any women chewing betel nut whether I was in urban or rural areas. However, there are women of various ethnic tribes in northern Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, etc. that do use betel nut. These hill people use the product more as a work-aid than anything else. Thus, from my perspective, although some women may be using betel nut, it is still a male dominated habit. I didn’t see any Western females trying a quid, but hey, you only live once so if you want to try it what’s stopping you? You’ll get strange looks regardless, so enjoy your time abroad and experience everything that you are willing to try, because you never know when you’ll have a second chance at trying something new once you leave.

What is all the red stuff on the ground?

The streets are covered with red spit everywhere you look. I take that back. Pretty much every type of walking surface with the exception of the inside of temples has large red spots of fresh and/or evaporated betel nut saliva. I even saw residue on the top of temples in Bagan. After chewing betel nut, your saliva turns into a shade of red similar to the bricks used throughout Southeast Asia. Make sure you watch where you walk or you may get accidentally spit on. I am not joking! It’s sort of disgusting, but you get used to it after a while, or at least I did. Some of the people I traveled with were totally grossed out that I was chewing betel nut, but they did admit that it made it easier for me to strike up a conversation and get the respect of locals, but I’ll get to that in the next section. I have to agree the chewing of betel nut and the excessive saliva its use creates is highly unsanitary.

Unless they are athletes spitting on a field or soldiers in training/combat in the field, most Americans who use chewing tobacco spit into a bottle when they are in indoor settings like a house, car or bus. The locals in Myanmar spit into black plastic bags when riding buses. The bags often leak and are simply disgusting! Hell, I saw some of them just spit right on the floor! I’ll admit that I even did it one bus ride, but I doubled up the bag and threw some napkins inside to soak up the saliva. That is only because I wasn’t allowed to leave the bus to empty out a water bottle. I wasn’t about to chug a liter of water and sit on a bus needing to go to the bathroom, and I certainly wasn’t going to pick up a dirty bottle on the floor and use that. Actually, it only resulted in me being offered more betel nut by locals on the bus once I finished mine.

How did betel nut helped me make friends?

Based on my experience, asking for and chewing betel nut with locals was my ice breaker. At first most were always wary and many saying no with a look on their face like why would this white guy want to chew betel nut with us. Once they gave me a quid, they would always remind me not to swallow the juice. I knew that already. At first I tried telling them I knew how to use it, but language barriers made it easier for me to say okay and smile. I also wanted to be polite. They were trying to help me after all. Once they saw that I knew what I was doing, it always brought smiles to their faces and countless laughs. This was the beginning of many relationships that I would build with locals while traveling throughout Myanmar, particularly in the rural areas in the middle of the country when I was by myself.

I purchased some betel nut simply to give to locals as a peace offering. They never declined, and rather offered me a chair to sit with them. It led to many conversations and the building of relationships that made my time traveling in Myanmar much more enjoyable. It helped me find restaurants, receive free meals, get accurate directions, purchase bus tickets, etc.. Basically, every guide and/or driver I interacted with used betel nut, and that connection seemed to open up avenues for me that did not at first exist prior. I hung out with a bunch of guys at the bus station in Magway who helped me purchase a longyi and after many attempts learned how to correctly tie it. Chewing betel nut literally opened more doors for me than I can count.

Why I wouldn’t continue to chew betel nut?

Like all narcotics, betel nut is highly addictive and can be extremely detrimental to a user’s health. Medical research has begun verifying its harmful effects and the results should not be startling. The habitual consumption of betel nut can lead to cancer most often in the mouth, throat, esophagus and stomach. Years of chewing will destroy a user’s teeth and gums. (Basically, they are exposing themselves to all of the same risks as a tobacco user.)

Additionally, its consumption damages a user’s mouth. When a local would smile at me their teeth were often stained a deep blood red to the point where they looked like freshly fed vampires. You could see their teeth beginning to rot and separate from their gums. Some users were missing teeth. It was sort of terrifying at first, but you got used to it in no time.

In more recent years, governments across Asia have taken strides at increasing awareness about the long term effects of betel nut consumption. They have begun to institute awareness campaigns and programs to reduce its use. They have made efforts to prohibit, control and regulate its consumption. Despite these efforts and the health risks, the use of betel nut isn’t going anywhere. This is part of their social fabric and that is not something that can be easily eliminated.

Why in the short term should you not care about the previous section?

The long term effects of betel nut are not pleasant. It’s not very healthy, but are you really going to become a betel nut addict? Probably not, unless you end up living in a region where you can easily obtain betel nut. That being said, you shouldn’t be very concerned with the long term effects. If you only try it once or a few times throughout your time in Myanmar or any other country that has it readily available, you will have very little to worry about.

Don’t worry about your teeth. As previously mentioned, the locals’ teeth are stained a variety of shades of red ranging from pink to a deep crimson. Many also have significant dental gum damage because of it. This occurs after years of using the product. Imagine what a person’s lungs would look like if they chain smoked cigarettes every hour of the day they were awake short of eating meals for years on end. What you’re seeing is a lifetime of betel nut use not a single try or use even over the course of a couple of days like myself.

At my peak I probably must have chewed anywhere up to a dozen quids per day. I truly became a betel nut chewing local for a couple of days when I was in Magway and Pyat. The worst side effects I had from its use was a pink tongue and teeth which only lasted until I brushed my teeth. Relax and experience some of the local customs.

Is there anything else worth mentioning?

The entire betel nut market is completely unregulated. There are no government restrictions and laws in place that regulate price, limit quantity and guarantee quality. There are no government tax stamps. There are no advertisements (that I saw in Myanmar) warning people of the possible risks like the powerful images seen on cigarette boxes around the world. There is no guarantee that the betel nut and/or leaves have been cultivated without pesticides. As a result, you don’t know exactly what you are putting in your mouth, but I could say the same thing for many of the meals I ate while I was in Myanmar. Use at your own risk. Clearly I like living dangerously, but this was not something I even considered until returning home to New York City to conduct the research necessary to finish up this article.

I have one final suggestion. Don’t wear a white shirt or you may stain it forever! I was sitting in the back of a tuk tuk and the wind whipped some saliva back into me and the few drops that did come back hit my shirt leaving a nasty blood colored stain on my shoulder. That t-shirt was ruined. Oops my bad! (I told you it was gross!)

What are my conclusions about betel nut?

Please realize that I am by no means promoting the use of betel nut or suggesting that you have to try an unsanitary habit forming narcotic that contains carcinogens. I am simply passing along information about a substance that is commonly used in Myanmar and other parts of Asia. You may want to try it for a new experience or you may choose to pass it up entirely. I was familiar with its use based on my experiences with chewing and dipping tobacco from playing baseball, going to college and joining the military. It made trying betel nut much less intimidating. By the time I left Myanmar, I was a betel nut aficionado. I was telling vendors exactly how to prepare my quids with what to include and what to leave out. I could make friends with almost any local within a minute. Don’t worry, I didn’t leave with a dying urge to find my next betel nut fix. Looking back, I wouldn’t change a thing about my use of the product, but what worked for me may not work for you. Happy trekking regardless of your decision!