ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the massive shift in Indonesian consumption as the major case study of tropical Asia in general. The implications of such a large-scale change for Indonesian health, expenditure patterns, and social and ritual interaction are of major importance. Cigarette smoking has almost completely replaced the chewing of betel among male Indonesians during the past century. The three essential ingredients of the betel quid are all naturally available in Indonesia. Lime is readily obtained from crushed shells. The similarity of function of betel-chewing and cigarette-smoking seems obvious to modern Indonesians. "Men are expected to smoke if they do not chew betelnut". Despite John Crawfurd's argument in favor of the Portuguese, it appears to have been the Spanish who introduced tobacco to Asia; they brought the plant from Mexico to the Philippines in 1575. The bungkus never died out entirely; it made its greatest comeback in the form of kretek during people own century.
