Each place has its own local customs and living habits, so there is an idiom called "Do as the Romans do when in a native place," including in daily diet. Many countries have their own characteristics. We Chinese like to eat noodles and rice, and most European countries like to eat bread as a staple food. But do you know that there is a country where people like to eat leaves very much, and they know that if they don’t eat them for a day, they will feel uncomfortable all over. A travel companion who traveled to Arabia discovered that adult males in a country in Arabia regard leaves as a necessary food in their daily lives and eat them almost every day.

This country is Yemen. You may be unfamiliar with this place. It is located in the Arabian Peninsula, adjacent to Saudi Arabia and Oman. Although Yemen is an Arab country, it has many similarities with our impression of Arabia. Rich people think differently. This country is actually one of the least economically developed and backward countries in the world. Just like some people like to smoke and drink, eating this leaf is also an addictive behavior for them.

This kind of leaf is actually Qiao tea, also called Yemen tea or khat grass. The locals call it "khat". Khat is widely distributed in tropical Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. In fact, it is a plant leaf similar to amphetamine and has strong addictive properties. But for Yemeni people, it is very difficult not to eat staple food, but to eat khat. My friend gave me an example. He heard from local residents in Yemen that buying leaves has become an important part of his family expenditure. Some people often spend half of their wages to buy this kind of Yemeni tea, which shows how dependent the Yemeni people are on it. Travel friends have even heard that some Yemenis will specially prepare a "grass room" at home, so that they can chew "leaves" while chatting with friends who come to their homes. In their eyes, this is a very important thing. Things to enjoy.

Not only at home, but also on the street, travelers can see many people’s mouths filled with Yemeni tea and chewing it constantly. In their country, Yemeni tea seems to have become a kind of food. When they were discussing business, they kept chewing on social products, even chewing them until their faces were deformed, but they still enjoyed it. However, Yemeni tea is prohibited from appearing in our country because it actually has special ingredients just like East African cannabis.

What is difficult for travelers to understand is that Yemen needs to import 50% of its food, but they use a large amount of land to grow Yemeni tea. Originally, Yemen also produced mocha coffee and exported it to Other countries are now basically replaced by Yemeni tea. The cultivation of Yemeni tea requires a large amount of water. Yemen is a country with extremely serious water shortages. For them, growing Yemeni tea is also a very luxurious consumption of resources. Therefore, groundwater pumps were installed in these plantations to extract deep groundwater. If this continues for a long time, it will be very dangerous for this poor country that lacks resources.

The editor feels that Yemeni people still can’t give up the habit of eating leaves even when their daily lives are difficult to maintain. It seems that Yemeni tea has completely penetrated into every aspect of their lives. . What do you think about this? Welcome to leave a message in the comment area.