History & Where to Buy Betel Nut & Paan in Singapore 槟榔

Gloria Lai posed the question on Facebook, "Name a dish that was once eaten in the 60s and 70s but has disappeared in the last generation or two". It attracted over 1,200 replies e.g. ice ball, malt candy, pickled papaya, etc. Then, I remembered something which was pervasive up to the 1970s and then more or less completely disappeared in Singapore and Malaysia - betel nut (known in Hindi as paan).

Chewing betel nut was, during its heyday, popular throughout South Asia and Southeast Asia. Now, it has more or less disappeared from Singapore and Malaysia (though betel nut culture is still strong in Taiwan, Myanmar, and India). 

The betel nut palm (Areca Catechu) is cultivated from South Asia to Indochina, Malay archipelago, the Philippines, Taiwan and Hainan island.

The betel nut palm is known as "pinang" in Malay. I know of a few places named after the pinang palm - Pulau Pinang (Penang island), Tanjung Pinang, Pangkal Pinang, come to mind. I am sure there are more.

The flag of the Malaysian state of Penang features a pinang palm.

The betel nut is actually a berry harvested from the palm. The fleshy berry is dehusked, the seed cooked by boiling in water, then sun dried. When dried, the hard dried seed (top left in picture), is ready to be used (in a betel nut quid).

Betel nut is enjoyed by wrapping slices or pieces of dried betel nut seed with betel leaf slathered with slaked lime paste (made with powdered seashell) and chewed. Wrapped in this way, it is known as a betel nut quid. Spices, gambir extract, and tobacco are often also folded into the quid.

Betel nut chewers enjoyed it for its relaxing and alerting effects, a general sense of heightened well being much like caffeine (coffee) and nicotine (tobacco), but more intense. One betel nut has the same caffeine punch as six cups of coffee ☕☕☕☕☕☕

Indian, Malay and Peranakan communities in Singapore and Malaysia enjoyed chewing betel nut quid (up to the 1970s when it fell out of favour). Chewing betel nut quid is known as "makan sireh" in Malay.

The leaf used to wrap betel nut for chewing is not from the betel nut palm but a heart shaped, waxy green leaf from the pepper family (Piperaceae).

Humans have been chewing betel nut since time immemorial. Pre-historic human remains in Taiwan and the Philippines with traces of betel nut in the teeth date back 4,000 years.

The form of betel nut chewing culture once prevalent in Singapore and Malaysia likely originated in India and spread west to Arabia, and east to Southeast Asia.

The paraphernalia of chewing betel nut can be rather elaborate especially for aristocrats and social elites. There are separate containers for betel leaves, slaked lime paste, betel nut, spices, tobacco etc. There would also be a betel nut cutter like a pair of scissors.

The betul nut cutter comes in many, often intricate, designs. A popular theme is the mythical flying horse, Sambrani. Sambrani was the flying horse that brought Raja Suran from the undersea kingdom back to land. Raja Suran's story is in chapter 1 of Sejarah Melayu (Malay Annals).

Extract from Sejarah Melayu chapter 1:

"He begged, however, his father-in-law to think of some method of conveying him to the upper world, as it would be of great disadvantage to cut off the line of Secander Zulkarneini.  His father-in-law assented to the propriety of this observation and furnished him with a sea-horse named Sambrani, which could fly through the air as well as swim in the water."

Sambrani was a common motif in the old Malay world. It was probably the flying horse in the "Headless Horseman" excavated at Empress Place on the north bank of Singapore River.

Chewing betel nut was an aristocratic pleasure. Betel nut is frequently mentioned in the Sejarah Melayu which contains stories of Malay kings and sultans from the kingdom of Singapura (1299 - 1398) to the Malacca sultanate (1400 - 1511). 

The king would express his pleasure by awarding a betel leaf from his personal betel nut box.

Extract from Sejarah Melayu chapter 13:

"Then the Prince took betel-leaf from his own box, and sent it to Tun Perak, and said to him, "Tun Perak, you must not live any longer in Calang, you must come and live here."

Extract from Sejarah Melayu chapter 24:

".... in the ancient times, betel presented from the raja's betel-box, was esteemed a peculiar favour, and not presented to every body; and whenever it was presented, it was considered as a mark of peculiar favour, and as a sign that there was some object which the raja had particularly in view."

Extract from Sejarah Melayu chapter 11:

"The royal betel box also accompanies the nobut."

Note the betel nut set in the centre of the nobat or royal instrumental ensemble (in the video).

"The raja's apparatus, such as his spitting-pot, his water-pitcher, his fan, and other utensils, were to be placed in the side-galleries; but his betel box and sword were to be placed by his side on the right or left hand, and his sword of authority was to be borne by the lacsamana, or Sri Bija Diraja." 

During the coronation of Malay kings, the betel leaf enters the presence of the king, second only to the Holy Koran.

Bandahara (prime minister) Tun Mutahir offers the Portuguese captain a taste of betel nut from his personal betel nut box as a welcome gesture.

Along with the betel nut box, betel nut cutter, the spittoon is an essential paraphernalia for enjoying betel nut. Chewing betel nut produces the signature red spittle which is disposed of via a spittoon.

In old Singapore, spittle from betel nut chewers left red stains on floors and streets.

Because of the unsightly red stains which were also hard to clean away, chewing betel nut was prohibited in many public places.

But, contrary to what many people assume, chewing betel nut was never banned in Singapore (just prohibited at certain public places).

While it was still fairly common during my childhood in Singapore, betel nut chewing has more or less disappeared in Singapore. For a centuries old tradition, chewing betel nut fell out of favour quickly - the red stained teeth was considered unsightly, chewing betel nut was proven carcinogenic, and the red spittle everywhere in public deemed anti-social. 

Today, it is migrant workers from South Asia who keep the betel nut chewing culture alive in Singapore. There are a handful of paan (Hindi for betel nut quid) stands in Singapore's "Little Bangladesh" along Desker Road. (Betel nut is the definitive ingredient in a paan.)

Besides the basic trinity of betel leaf, slake lime and betel nut, paan stands typically provide spices (cardamon, fennel seed, cloves, nutmeg, etc), sweets and a sweet-sour lime paste.

There are many concoctions of paan. The few paan I had in Singapore, Bangkok, Goa (India) all tasted mainly sweet and full of perfume fragrance. The bits of betel nut were woody and stiff, and didn't have much flavour. The betel leaf tasted fresh, leafy green, slightly tannic. Obviously, I have acquired neither the art of chewing betel nut nor a taste for it 🤷

If you are interested to try betel nut / paan in Singapore, you can get it at "Little Bangladesh" in Desker Road.

The dried leaf sheaf of the betel nut palm known as opeh is used for wrapping food. With the decline in betel nut culture in Singapore and Malaysia, use of opeh leaf for wrapping food also pretty much disappeared.

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Written by Tony Boey on 20 Jun 2021

Reference:

Map of betel nut culture courtesy of Wikipedia. Image of betel nut slicer courtesy of Wikipedia. Image of flag of Penang courtesy of Wikipedia. Image of ancient betel nut text courtesy of Wikipedia. Image of betel leaf courtesy of Wikipedia. Image of betel nut kit courtesy of Wikipedia. Image of no chewing betel nut notice courtesy of Wikipedia. Image of spittoon courtesy of Wikipedia. Image of betel nut set courtesy of Wikipedia. Image of betel nut stain courtesy of Wikipedia. Image of nobat from Youtube screengrab.

There are many renditions of 采槟榔 (Plucking Betel Nut) originally sang by 周璇 in 1940.