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Chewing qat is a major pastime for nearly all Yemeni men and a fair number of women. Most men spend their mornings thinking about who they will chew with and where, and as soon as the afternoon arrives, the qat markets are heaving.
As a regular qat chewer when in Yemen, and as I wrote my university dissertation on the subject, I should know one or two things about the stuff...
Photo: Qat market in Bab as-Sabah

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Photo: Qat sellers in Bab as-Sabah.

Qat is a green plant which is cultivated in Yemen, Ethiopia and Somalia for the sole purpose of chewing its leaves. The Latin name for the plant is Catha Edulis Forsk, named after the Danish explorer Forsskal who was the first European to discover qat. The plants grow to a height of six feet, and it does not require much care to live...qat can be grown on the least fertile piece of land, at great heights, and in areas of little rainfall, making it a highly viable crop in mountainous places like Yemen. It might sound a little strange to grow a plant so you can chew its leaves for hours on end and spit them out later...you can't eat qat leaves, you can't make it into tea, so why have so many yemenis devoted their land to growing this crop? The answer lies in the active ingredients of the leaves...they contain a heady mix of cathinone, catine and caffeine among others, all of which are released when the leaves are chewed. Qat is often compared to drugs, especially amphetamines, and is even classed as a class C drug in most countries. However, the effects of qat cannot be compared with those of drugs such as amphetamines...in fact they are more like the effects of drinking a bit too much coffee. Also, it takes time for these effects to appear in the chewer...qat's effects don't kick in straight away like more favoured street drugs, so for this reason qat has remained unpopular amongst conventional drug users and is never likely to become "big" in the streets.

Qat is a social institution in Yemen...you can't fail to notice its presence in any Yemeni town, as it is simply everywhere! Most afternoons, especially thursdays and fridays, businesses and shops close early to allow workers to get to the qat souqs to find their afternoon's bundle of leaves. By around three, the streets are almost deserted as chewers begin to gather at friends' houses to spend the next few hours gossiping with a wad of green leaves bulging from their cheeks. Enter a shop in the evening and the likelyhood is that the owner will be very quiet and not utter a word...the effects of qat have kicked in and he has lost the power of speech, either through deep thought, or because he has so many leaves in his mouth that it is physically impossible to speak! Walk down the street at night and you can't help but notice little piles of green spit...everywhere...these are the disgarded qat leaves, and where better to spit them out but in the gutter?!

The majority of chewers experience some sort of after-effects from chewing qat. The most common are severe insomnia and temporary loss of appetite. The first time I chewed, I spent that night staring at the ceiling with a bloated stomach! I also experienced bad mouth ulcers...this was due to chewing stronger leaves, as beginners should stick to the very new leaves until they can cope with more. Another fairly common after-effect is constipation, and I can testify to that one too! The short term effects on sexual potency is a very shady area...some men complain that it just doesn't happen after chewing qat, while others proudly boast it enhances sex...who can say?!

Long-term effects: well, tooth decay is a common one, although oral hygiene in many third world countries isn't the best, so maybe qat isn't entirely to blame for that one. Scientists have also discovered that long-term use of qat (and I mean long-term...more than 50 years or so) can lead to cancer of the mouth...well, it may be true, but most Yemenis would just be happy to make it to their fifties, as the life expectancy in Yemen is one of the lowest in the world.

One extremely common side-effect is malnutrition. Often, lunch constitutes the only meal of the day for a chewer, as after qat, he has no appetite. Chewing qat is a very efficient way of losing weight, but it helps if you have fat to lose, otherwise it can be very dangerous. Qat causes malnutrition not just in the chewer, but in his family too...those who are less well-off canot afford to buy qat, but there is such social pressure to chew at least once a week that an increasing number of men spend all their money on qat, leaving their family to go hungry.

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Photo: Buying qatal in Shari'a Hai'l, where I used to buy my qat from. Qatal is poor-man's qat, sometimes referred to as qat's pubic hair! Just as wine ahs wine-snobs, qat has its fair share of qat snobs who only buy the best quality Hamdani or Shami qat, spending a week's or a month's wages on an afternoon's supply of qat. Then there are the sensible ones who buy the "bits which fell off" the expensive stuff...separate leaves, a few stems, but not whole branches...this is qatal!

It might sound a little strange to grow a plant so you can chew its leaves for hours on end and spit them out later...you can't eat qat leaves, you can't make it into tea, so why have so many yemenis devoted their land to growing this crop? The answer lies in the active ingredients of the leaves...they contain a heady mix of cathinone, catine and caffeine among others, all of which are released when the leaves are chewed. Qat is often compared to drugs, especially amphetamines, and is even classed as a class C drug in most countries. However, the effects of qat cannot be compared with those of drugs such as amphetamines...in fact they are more like the effects of drinking a bit too much coffee. Also, it takes time for these effects to appear in the chewer...qat's effects don't kick in straight away like more favoured street drugs, so for this reason qat has remained unpopular amongst conventional drug users and is never likely to become "big" in the streets. Another reason why qat use has not spread is because the leaves lose their potency within 24 hours of being picked...although plane-loads of qat arrive in London twice a week heading for the Yemeni and Somali communities there, it is expensive and the quality of qat once it has reached Britain is fairly poor. Yemen will never make a fortune from exporting qat, neither will the drug dealer make his million from selling it on a street corner in London.

Yes and no. Research has found that it is impossible to become addicted to the ingredients of qat, so therefore chewing qat can't be addictive. This sounds true too, as Yemenis living abroad have no problems dealing with not having qat. It is not like trying to give up smoking for instance.
I think what is more addictive is the act of buying qat...there is so much peer presure to buy qat, so anyone who makes a conscious effort to give up qat will end up buying a small bundle...and what is the point of buying qat if you're not going to chew it?! A friend who really could not afford to chew qat tried his best to distance himself from this "evil green plant" (his own words!). On the first day, he did not buy any qat, but then his afternoons are always spent at qat chews, so he was at a loss as to what to do with himself. So he went and sat with his qat cheing friends with the intention of joining in the conversation. he was ridiculed for not having any qat, and hands from all round the room offered him bundles of leaves...within five minutes, he had succumbed and I found him later that evening with a larger than usual wad of leaves in his left cheek. This happened every time, and soon enough he was back to buying qat he couldn't afford.
Another friend was injured in a car crash and suffered deep depresion. Qat offered him a way to escape from his misery for a few hours every day, so he began to chew regularly. But a few hours was not enough, so he began to borrow money from friends to buy more qat, chewing in both cheeks...again this didn't last long enough, so he began to use tobacco powder under the tongue, a fairly vile habit, one which I have flirted with on one occasion and vowed never to try again! Tobacco is addictive, and fairly soon he was hooked on it...but he could only take tobacco powder once he'd got a mouthful of qat, as qat helped to disguise the taste and enhance the effects...now he is stuck with an addiction he can't afford to feed.

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Photo: An expensive bundle of qat, bought at Bab as-Sabah qat market.

Qat should be chewed in a mafraj, a special room dedicated to chewing qat. The stereotypical mafraj would be on the top floor of an old Sana'ani "gingerbread" house with fantastic views over the rooftops of Old Sana'a. The windows should be multi-coloured stined glass, the outer perimeter of the room covered in cushions with arm rests. A water-pipe (chicha/nargileh) here and there, a few spittoons (masbaq) dotted around, and plenty of bottled water...the scene is set for a typical takhzeen (qat chew). Guests arrive (all male, of course!) wearing thowbs, jambiyyas and sports jackets, and begin to seat themselves on the cushions, right arm resting on the right knee, left leg tucked underneath, left arm leaning on the arm rest, and the thowb forming a lap for the gap while at the same time covering one's modesty. Everyone must bring his own qat...it is a social faux-pas not to, although more often than not someone who turns up qatless will be given a few stems from all the other chewers out of pity. Once everyone has arrived, the door is shut to keep out any fatal draughts (I will explain this later on...there is a science behind qat chewing!), and the jokey banter begins. An hour or so later, the jokes subside into an intense conversation ...qat loosens the tongue, and you may find yourself involved in an in depth debate over something neither you nor your opponent knows anything about! I once found myslef arguing with a friend about the history of Spain for over an hour! then comes the Hour of Solomon...this is where the chewer drifts off into his own thoughts, and the conversation becomes a series of grunts, snorts and exclamations of "alhamdulillah", commonly said after burping. this stage lasts until the effects of qat begin to fade and darkness descends. The chewers sit in the darkness, and one by one bid farewell, slipping off into the night still with a wad of leaves in their cheeks.

Of course, not all chews are like this. A mafraj can be a room as described above, but it can just as easily be a shopfront, a shanty-town hut, a bus, a shared taxi, even an old bed next to the Red Sea. The important thing is to chew in company. Qat is a social "drug" (I hesitate to use that word, as qat's status is unclear...), and it is very rare to chew alone.

It doesn't have to be chewed in the afternoon either, although this is the most popular time to chew...straight after a heavy lunch of salteh. Travellers will chew qat to pass the time at any hour...I must say that a 6 hour taxi ride in the dead of night passes remarkably quickly with a little help from qat! During Ramadan, qat chewing cannot take place between dawn and dusk, so the qat chew is moved to late at night.

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Photo: My regular mafraj, at my friend Osama's house.

There is an art to chewing qat...you do not merely stuff in a bunch of leaves and hope for the best! After buying your "rubta" or bundle, the leaves should be washed...this is a recent trend, started because of a few deaths resulting from pesticide poisoning. The leaves are then laid out to be dried before they are pronounced ready to be chewed. You do not chew all the leaves either...you must be selective, choosing the newest, smallest leaves from the tips of the twigs, the soft supple ones, as well as the juicy stems. But for a first-timer, it might be better to ask an expert (a mawlai) which leaves to chew and which to chuck into the centre of the room, the temporary waste bin.
Most chewers prefer to chew in the left cheek...due to Islamic custom, things should be lifted to your mouth by your right hand only, as the left is considered unclean, and the right hand automatically feeds the left side of the mouth. In practice, however, many chewers use either cheek, depending on the level of tooth decay!
The Arabic verb used to describe qat chewing is "khazzana", which literally means "to store". They don't use "madagha", to chew, as chewing implies preparing something to be swallowed. Qat should never be swallowed...it should be "stored" in the cheek, gradually being ground by the teeth and saliva, and only the juices allowed to slip down the throat. To help this, some sort of liquid should be drunk. There is a common trend nowadays to drink carbonated drinks such as cola or fanta, but the accomplished chewer wouldn't dream of taking anything but water. Sugae=ry drinks distort the flavour of qat, and pure water is considered one of the pleasures of qat chewing. There is also a scientific reason for drinking water with qat, and hopefully I'll get down to that later ;)

Hmmm...a difficult one, this. Qat has a bitter taste, not exactly pleasant at first, but one you soon come to tolerate and eventually enjoy. Some compare the taste to rocket (ruccola), others talk of the sweet flavour, some even go as far as to say it reminds them of the finest honey (I never quite got to that stage!). Many foreigners try qat for the first time, but are too hasty with their judgement...it doesn't agree with them straight away, so they spit it out and pronounce it to be a dirty, disgusting habit. Like most good things, the pleasure of qat comes slowly...those who rush will never experience qat properly. Like the Guinness advert, good things come to those who wait!