KOREA FOUNDATION

As you travel in Southeast Asia, you’ll often see the local people chewing something like gum that resembles a little ball of leaves. This is betel; betel chewing has long been part of the region’s popular culture.

Betel grows as a vine. In general, the word ‘betel’ is used to refer to chewing tobacco made by wrapping betel leaves, a piece of areca palm nut, quicklime, and other spices and herbs together into a ball. In Southeast Asia, lime paste is first applied to the surface of the betel leaves, seeds or a piece of areca palm nut are added, and the whole package is wrapped up nicely.

The betel chewing culture that has been practiced for thousands of years in this area of the world has contributed to the development of containers used to store betel’s basic ingredients. Betel chewing sets have been produced across time in different materials and with different ingredients, for use by commoners, royal servants, and the royal family. Benjarong betel sets from Thailand are made in colored porcelain. Each set is comprised of a tray to carry the tools, a container for storing betel leaves, and small boxes for areca palm nuts and red lime paste. Although benjarong betel sets were once used exclusively by the royal family, it is said that later on, noble families and rich merchants came to use them as well.