Betelnut

If Homer Simpson were Taiwanese he would eat chou dofu, drink Taiwan beer and chew bettle nut with a fanatic zeal. I have nothing but high praise for the local bubble gum and highly recommend it to anybody that wants a taste of local life. I especially like the sound and scarlet plop of a heavy bin lang saliva drop as it hits the balck asphalt. I do not like the way it makes my beer taste sweet.

I’ve eaten it with truck drivers and CEO’s with PHD’s and the occasioanal dignitary.

Cheers to the mighty the nut.

Chou

I tried it a couple of times and just plain didn

I like [i]huowa /i, the leaf-wrapped kind. I like my teeth nice and white.

I am laughing, chou, but I couldn’t resist a swipe at that snobbish post :laughing: .

I just expressed a general idea how Taiwanese people see this chewing betel nut thing. However, you can not deny that some people do use “social standard” to build up their own image which may seem superficial to some of us, but it’s true, isn’t it?

Because I’m a shallow, superficial person who cares too much about what other people think, I try not to chew tabaccy when I’m in a meeting. And when I do, I’m careful to always spit into a cup and not on the floor. I don’t want people to think I’m uncouth. :sunglasses:

Wow. My first post on Forumosa. Howdy!

I’ve tried bin-lan (linguists - don’t kill me for poor transliteration, please!) many times and not once did I ever catch the supposed “buzz” locals (and a handful of foreigners) claim to experience. I know what I’m doing, but apparently the only “buzz” I get is from the cute conversations I have with the bing-lan beauties.

It’s not bad, but if any of you are English teachers, please DO NOT allow your students to refer to it as “Taiwanese chewing gum,” It’s not. It’s more like “Taiwanese chewing tobacco,” or “Taiwanese chaw” in American slang.

I don’t think I catch the “buzz” because I’m a walking pharmacy as it is. I put Hunter S. Thompson to shame…

Buy beer instead.
:smiling_imp:

Ciao,

Joe Thanks

Try to swallow some of the red juice from the nuts. The first times I tried it I didn’t and wondered what the buzz was about. Then I swallowed a mouthful - and found out.

Thanks for the advice, but I’ve done it. I actually find pleasure in the juice - sometimes, but no buzz. I once chomped on as many as I could fit in my mouth in the idiotic notion that I just had a high tollerance to its “magic.” Maybe I’m immune? Far too many years of inhibriation might do that. I imagine the buzz must be rather mild, and manyTaiwanese aren’t the most tollerant of substance users (legal, namely), so they can enjoy the bing-lan more. I can at least enjoy the eye-candy when buying them :laughing:

Ciao,

Joe

I see. You must be jaded then. One nut and I get very buzzed. Haven’t eaten those things for some 7 years, though.

Betel nut trees disappearing as consumer demand fades

This article from today’s Taiwan News suggests Taiwan’s betel nut industry is in serious decline. A good or bad thing, depending on your point of view.

[quote=“wix”]Betel nut trees disappearing as consumer demand fades

This article from today’s Taiwan News suggests Taiwan’s betel nut industry is in serious decline. A good or bad thing, depending on your point of view.[/quote]

A very good thing from the environmental point of view. Passing through Nantou County last week, I was horrified at the extent of the betel-nut plantations covering the hills on all sides. Do you all remember how the government made so much noise and so many promises about cutting down all the illegal betel-nut trees after that early-summer typhoon the year before last caused such devastating mudslides and loss of life in central Taiwan – blamed mainly on the widespread planting of betel-nut trees? But nothing seems to have changed at all, and the issue has apparently been forgotten – until the next disaster brings it to the fore again.

However, if betel-nut growing and sales really do diminish, I hope the betel-nut beauties will find something else to sell, as I’d hate to see them disappear from Taiwan’s landscape. As Gao Xing-jian has said, they’re one of the most colorful and attractive features of Taiwanese culture, and are highly appreciated by many of us. In fact, if they shifted from selling betel-nuts to something that I would want to buy (such as latte, draft beer, vegetarian biandangs, or whatever), that would be best of all, because then I’d be able to patronize their stalls and banter with them instead of just goggling as I go by.

Hah hah hah… I couldn’t have agreed with you more!

I have tried it when I was kid, and I remember specifically that I enjoyed every bit of it. Even though it was frowned upon for city kids to chew that stuff, I didn’t care. It was a way of fitting in… sort of like smoking, I guess…

scchu

The clips are fantastic! Thank you. I have to show my Malaysian-Chinese wife the part where one student “claimed” that the Malaysians eat those nuts as “desert”… I will get back to you on that. :wink:

scchu

Like all young kids trying to show off what they know (or pretend to know), the comment on betel nuts being consumed for desert or snack is simply false… this has been officially confirmed by the almighty wife… I have to go worship her now… peace…

scchu