Beauty & the Betel

Betel nut beauty with betel nuts in hand, Taiwan 2025

Preparing betel nuts with slaked lime and betel leaves, Taiwan 2025

Betel nut beauty in betel nut stall, Taiwan 2025

Attending orders through car window, Taiwan 2025

Betel nut beauty at stall entrance, Taiwan 2025

Glass walled kiosks, neon lights, young women in scanty clothes - once a curious but familiar sight in Taiwan.

Patrons drop in for a controversial stimulus. Not from the girls locally referred to as 'betel nut beauty', but for little green nuts to chew on. Betel nuts with its psychoactive compounds provide a quick buzz when chewed.

With tighter government regulations and modern lifestyle expectations, current generation vendors find the industry to be increasingly restrictive. Will this tradition survive by adapting to modern expectations or perhaps we will see the fading out of this custom of a bygone Taiwan?