Is it just me? Whenever anyone mentions the word Singapore - some know-it-all (usually a know-it-all like myself) drones “do you know that chewing gum is illegal in Singapore?”

Well apparently it’s true - at least until today, when it will no longer be a criminal offence and will be sold on prescription.

Ananova - Singapore relaxes chewing gum ban

So now that the traditional Singapore chewing gum anecdote is history here’s an alternative gum trivium:

“the ancient Greeks were known to be fond of a gummy substance named mastiche, derived from the resin of the mastic tree. In fact, Dioscorides, a Greek physician and medical botanist of the First Century, refers to the “curative powers” of the mastic in his writing.”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 20th, 2002 at 5:46 pm and is filed under trivia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.