Paan and Betel Nut Or Areca Nut Are Embedded in South Asian Culture

I first visited the Indian subcontinent in the late 1970s, and while in India, I was offered paan to chew. I never refuse food in case it causes offence in other cultures, and most of the time I like what I'm offered. However, sweet paan doesn't come into my 'like' category. I remember feeling nauseous and giddy, and was grateful that I wasn't expected to swallow it. Tobacco paan tasted even worse.
When I came to Pakistan, two years ago, I had almost forgotten that paan experience. Then I noticed that almost every other shop in the city of Sheikhupura had a sign saying 'PAN' on it. Being curious, I asked if I could go and look at one of the shops, which I thought might be selling some traditional cooking pots. Of course, they were actually selling paan, and the look on my face must have alerted my husband to the fact that I didn't like it. He persevered, though and asked if I'd like to try some sweet paan, or even tobacco paan. I declined his offers.
I'm not quite sure what it is that I don't like in paan. It could be the betel pepper leaf, which is the outer wrapping. On the other hand, it could be one of the liquids used to coat the leaves. One is a lime solution, not the fruit but calcium hydroxide, and the other is a pink solution (katha or catechu) made from the wood of a type of a variety of acacia tree. There again, the problem could be the betel nut (also known as the areca nut, or supari in Urdu), although there are only slivers of it in sweet paan. This grows on the betel palm tree and the nut is rather like a nutmeg to look at. The betel nut is a stimulant which is chewed without being wrapped in paan in India. It stains the mouth a bright shade of orangey-red and modern medical research has shown that it can bring on diabetes and could be the cause of oral cancers.
It is used to sweeten the breath and throughout its long history it has been thought of as an aphrodisiac. It is a traditional wedding gift in Bengal. The ingredients for making it are presented to the bride and groom, and as their love grows, the bride not only rolls paan for her husband, but feeds it to him. Paan was widely eaten by royalty and Krishna is said to have chewed the betel nut. This is mentioned in the Shrimad Bhagavat, written around 5000 years ago. Apparently, the Hindu god Vishnu likes to be presented with 32 betel pepper vine leaves.
Poems have been created to paan, such as this one by the Bengali poet Mukhya Charan Bhattacharya:
She lives indoors but is not a woman.
Not sought by the young, but adored by the old.
She is a temptress like a firefly.
Fools will not interpret this and will remain confused.