Betel

Common name for the small, hard nut
from the areca palm tree, which is consumed by mixing slices of the nut with
lime, tobacco, and spices and wrapping
the whole thing up in a betel leaf. This is
not eaten but lodged against the cheek
and slowly chewed, to let the juices flow.
This method of gradually absorbing the
juice may be the reason for its most
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Betel
common name, pan (“drinking”). The
nut turns the saliva a bright red color,
which is the reason for the distinctive
crimson smears adorning many Indian
buildings. Chewing betel is widely
believed to be good for the digestive
tract, a genuine concern in a country
where intestinal upsets are still quite
common. Chewing betel is such a
deeply embedded part of sophisticated
Indian cultural life that it even has its
own aesthetic, and folding betel is one
of the sixty-four arts mentioned in the
Kama Sutra.