Question for April 2017

Thank you for your great question! It’s actually difficult to answer because we don’t have actual dating of when gum chewing started in either culture. Although we know a famous Greek writer called Pliny the Elder (AD 23 – August 25, AD 79) spoke of the Greeks chewing gum called “mastich”, we don’t know how long they had been chewing prior to his writings. Additionally, although we know that the Aztecs and earlier Maya peoples of Mexico chewed “chicle” and used it as a kind of glue, for tooth fillings and other things, we don’t know how far back it went. However, we do know that people began chewing bark tar as a kind of gum as early as 9,000-4,000 BC. Hope that helps.

The resin of the Sapodilla tree, used to make traditional Mexican chewing gum