Fresh Pan

While there are many interesting foods and ingredients that non-indians do not usually use, one food is especially unusual. This is a product called pan. The core ingredient is betel, the nut of the a kind of palm tree (areca catchu) which grows all over southeast Asia. Areca nuts are chewed by many country people in this region of world because it a mild stimulant. Pan is more elaborate. The betel nut is dried and then either cut or crushed. It is often mixed with a red liquid made by boiling the wood of the areca palm tree. A green leaf of a different tree, the piper betle is spread out and the central thick stem removed (traditionally, a man kept one finger nail longer and sharper than the others for just this task) . Then, a dab of white lime paste-the same chemical used to melt ice on roads in northern countries-is spread on the leaf, the nut placed in the middle and the whole wrapped into a small packet. This is popped into the mouth whole, chewed, but never swallowed. The effect is to anesthetize the mouth, something like a very powerful mouthwash. Indians find it refreshing and often take it after a meal to freshen one's breath. Westerners find pan very much an acquired taste.