“Yummlummbumma?”, the taxi driver says. Burmese is not an easy language to understand. Not only because of the unreadable writing and many different nasal sounds, but mostly because of the mumbling. Many mumble, because their mouth is full with red saliva, a side effect of chewing betel nut.

While we drive the chauffeur opens his door and spits red slime on the sidewalk. It looks like somebody just spilled a cup of fresh blood. He tries again, now with his emptied mouth: “You like Burma?”. He smiles with his brownish red stained teeth.

Yes, I do like Burma, except the red drool everywhere. I am the first to admit, as a smoker, bad and dirty habits are highly annoying and harmful for the non-addicted. But betel nut beats all other addictions, in terms of causing public grossness.

Sidewalks, stair cases, floors in bars - everything is covered in a thin layer of red slime. Not to mention the sound of people gurgle en splatter out the watery betel residue.

Betel nut isn’t really a nut but rather the seed from the areca palm wrapped in betel leaves. As I understand the taste is pretty horrible and it causes increased risk of cancer, diabetes and of course lovely red teeth. I ask several Burmese why they chew. “It makes you relaxed, happy and not hungry. It depends on how much tobacco is mixed in”. Also, do they care about having red teeth? “It is said betel nut makes your teeth stronger”, one says: “...and mouth cancer, but only if you fall asleep with it”.

How many people are addicted? According to the WHO over 50% of the Burmese population; the highest rate in the world. It has been a tradition in South East Asia for over 4000 years, but in most countries, only some old people are still seen with the characteristic red mouth. In Burma, just as many young people seem to chew the betel.

I haven’t figured out why. So that is why I suggested my colleagues to have our first DVB Debate show on it. The team (with some chewers) likes it, so the first TV debate in Burma on “Ban the Betel Nut?” is going to be aired soon.