Qat

Yemen has two principal crops: Qat and Coffee.

Appa lived in Yemen from 1990 onwards- off and on- for ten years. My first visit to Yemen was to appear for GRE and AGRE exams. I found it a beautiful, quirky country. One of the more 'endearing' habits is for the men and women to chew a leaf called qat. It is mildly intoxicating but because the religion specifically prohibits Muslims from indulging in such practices, every Yemeni worth his/her salt will tell you that qat is not intoxicating.

Qat requires the chewers to drink plenty of water for it is dehydrating. Those days, I am not sure how it is now, Maruti-type vans served as public transports. Men would be driving, much like how we drive in India, and then wham an empty bottle would be thrown out of the window. The highlight was the crushing of the bottle beneath the wheels of the vehicle behind. It was a lovely sport.

Women are more discreet as they take qat within the walls of their houses. I was invited once over to visit our downstairs neighbors to learn how to make their sweet bread. No, I was not invited to chew qat but I believe the men offered it to appa who declined to do so.

Earlier qat had to be imported but slowly the Yemenies have become self-sufficient.

In this article in The Guardian there appears to be hand-wringing over this habit, which has been declared as a drug by the Americans.