What children in the USSR often chewed instead of gum: the consequences are scary to imagine

Food in the USSR was scarce – even meat or butter was difficult to get, let alone various delicacies like sweets. And chewing gum, which is now commonplace, was considered a real luxury.

Nevertheless, Soviet children tried to come up with an alternative to the popular treats. And sometimes this alternative could be dangerous to health. OBOZ.UA tells you more.

For a long time, chewing gum was condemned in the USSR as a symbol of capitalism. However, young citizens were not too interested in these conventions and were looking for ways to replace the popular confectionery product with something else. Often, they came across bitumen.

Bitumen is a group of chemicals that is a product of oil refining. The bitumen chewed by children was used, among other things, to lay asphalt roads and insulate buildings. Pieces of it could be found, for example, on construction sites and roofs.

It took 30-40 minutes to chew a piece of bitumen. The substance tasted like paraffin – it didn't have a pleasant flavor, but it gave a greasy feeling.

After chewing the bitumen, a black coating formed in the mouth. This improvised "chewing gum" could also tear out fillings from the teeth. Not to mention the fact that bitumen contains toxic substances that are harmful to health. If you swallow a piece of such "chewing gum", it will not be digested and will eventually come out naturally.

Nevertheless, the children were not deterred even by attempts to explain this to them. They looked for pieces of bitumen, divided it among themselves, and chewed it for a long time. It is noteworthy that the Soviet Union began to produce its chewing gum only in the late 1970s, on the eve of the Moscow Olympics.

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