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Betel
Throughout
South and
Southeast Asia, the chewing of
areca nut wrapped in betel leaf, for its intoxicating effect, was
(and still is) a custom that transcended class, evolved rituals
that helped govern social intercourse, and perplexed foreigners.
Early Western travelers saw only effects that were, to them,
fairly repulsive: blackened teeth, red-stained lips, and an
abundance of spitting those left trails of red splotches on the
ground. Yet, from India to the West Pacific, it has been a habit
enjoyed by millions for at least 2000 years (that is, form its
first documented use in India). The offering of betel was a sign
of goodwill to guests; affection in courtship’s; and honor at
court. The preparation of the ‘quid’, or a packet of ingredients
to be chewed, was considered an essential social skill.
It was indeed the social significance of betel that not only
surrounded it with paraphernalia, but also made the latter the
focus of varied styles of craftsmanship, some of it of a very
high order. The open cone-shaped receptacle
contained the rolled-up leaves, which, in Thailand, were served
folded in this shape rather than as an enclosed packet, as was
usual in India and elsewhere. The other boxes housed the sliced
nut, lime paste and optional ingredients such as tobacco,
shredded bark cloves and various flavorings. The ensemble was
usually presented to guests on a pedestal tray, as depicted in
the 19th century mural at the monastery of Wat Phra Singh in
Chiang Mai on right. The wooden betel tray , lightly lacquered with a
decorative inlay of bone, is a more modest
item.
There are three essential ingredients in a quid, which combine to
create a euphoric effect and are as addictive, if not more so,
than nicotine. The first is areca nut, called maak in Thai, an
hard seed about the size and consistency of a nutmeg, which grows
encased in a white husk and hangs in clumps from the tall,
slender areca palm (Areca catechu). There is, incidentally, no
such thing as a betel nut: that error crept into English around
the 17th century through mis-observation. The betel is actually a
green leaf-the second ingredient from a creeper of the pepper
family, Piper betle, or phlu in Thai. The third ingredient is
lime paste, made from cockleshells that are baked to a high
temperature to produce unslaked lime, to which water is added; it
is then pounded into an edible paste. Cumin (Cuminum cyminum) is
often added to the paste, giving it a red color.
The point of this unlikely sounding combination is that arecoline
in the nut is hydrolyzed by the lime into another alkaloid,
arecaidine; the later reacts with the oil of the fresh betel leaf
to produce the euphoric properties. One side effect is that the
saliva glands are strongly stimulated, which accounts from the
large amount of spitting. The habit also resulted in the use of
the flared, wide-mouthed spittoon, a common item in polite
households. The characteristic red color of the spittle and the
issuing mouth is due mainly to a phenol in the leaf.
Nowadays, it is more appropriate to use the past tense in
describing the betel habit in Thailand, as modernization has
largely overtaken the custom. You are much more likely as a
visitor to a Thai house to be offered a soft drink than a quid of
betel to pop into your cheek, and cigarettes are now generally a
more preferred stimulant. In its day, however, betel certainly
had its addicts. A German pharmacologist, Louis Lewin-as quoted
by Henry Brownrigg in his book Betel Cutters (1991) wrote in the
1920s: The Siamese and Manilese would rather give up rice, the
main support of their lives, than betel, which exercises a more
imperative power on its habitues than dose tobacco on smokers
02. December 2004