[9급 지방직 영어 2013년 13번]

What an Indian eats depends on his region, religion, community, and caste. It also depends on his wealth. A vast proportion of the Indian population is made up of the rural poor who subsist on a diet that meets only about 80 percent of their nutritional requirements. Many of the poor, unable to find work all year round, and therefore unable to buy food everyday, have to manage their hunger by fasting on alternate days. In Bengal, the meals of the poor are made up of rice, a little dhal flavored with salt, chillies, and a few spices, some potatoes or green vegetables, tea and paan. Paan, which is an areca nut mixed with spices and rolled up in a betel leaf, is chewed after the meal. Although it seems a luxury, in fact, the poor use it to stave off hunger.