Chewing Gum

“What is wrong with chewing gum?”

“Why does gum have such a bad rap?”

Chewing gum has been around for thousands of years; evidenced by a discovery in 2007 by a British archaeology student. The 5,000-year-old chewing gum made from birch bark tar is the oldest to be discovered so far. I wonder if workplaces and schools back then preferred not to have chewing gum as are most policies today.

While, I’ve heard that chewing gum helps clean our teeth when we don’t have a toothbrush on hand, and freshens our breath, and also helps us focus and be more productive at work, I have a difficult time making a case for the good-old-chewing-gum, thanks to my upbringing.

While growing up my parents preferred to have fruit in the house as opposed to candy for snacks. Any kind of sugary treats were almost foreign to us, such that whenever we had any it was a memorable event. I still fondly remember the days when my mother would treat us to bubble gum coins. I would unwrap my coin with much anticipation to savour the burst of flavour from the gum. However, it seemed that mere moments after popping the scrumptious coin into my mouth, my mother was rounding up our barely chewed pieces of gum into tissue paper. My thoughts at the time were that my mother was a teaser, giving us a rare treat and at the same time depriving us of fully enjoying it.

Looking back now I have come to realize that my mother was only trying to foster mindfulness. The longer we kept the gum in our mouths, the more mindless our chewing became: loud smacking, open-mouthed, and blowing bubbles, something mother wasn’t a fan of. Sometimes the chewed gum ended up under the table to be discovered during cleaning. It’s what we did with the chewing gum that made it unpopular in our home.

One time I decided to experiment on chewing the gum to my heart’s content, and when I walked past a mirror and caught sight of myself, my mother’s case was made. Let’s just say my chewing was not attractive.

In keeping breath fresh, I have found that popping a mint into my mouth does the job just as well.