As for why Hunan people, especially Xiangtan people, love eat areca, the most popular statement on the Internet is that Xiangtan, the birthplace of Hunan betel nut food custom, was slaughtered by the Qing army, and then the refugees who came back found an old monk burying his body with betel nuts, so they followed suit. This is also in line with an ancient view of betel nut, which can prevent miasma and plague. There is no historical proof of this statement, and whether it is credible or not is a matter of opinion.

There are also some documents to study the reasons why people in Xiangtan love eat areca. It is found in the Customs Volume of Xiangtan County Records that in the past, Xiangtan was simple in fashion. When people were invited to dinner, a pot of light fish soup was served, and the guests would finish the banquet at will. But nowadays people pay attention to eating and drinking, and food and wine are extremely extravagant. In particular, weddings and funerals, accompanied by "betel nut dead leaves", are very popular. This shows that the betel nut custom in Xiangtan was originally associated with wedding and funeral banquets. Moreover, "dead leaves of betel nut" refers to the combination of betel nut and betel nut leaves, which is very similar to the custom in eat areca, Guangdong at that time. Some people think that the custom of eat areca originated from Xiangtan and came from Guangdong.

Xiangtan is located in central Hunan, adjacent to Xiangjiang River. In ancient times, a main route from the Central Plains to Lingnan was from Xiangjiang River to the south, and from Chenzhou or Yongzhou to Nanling. After Ye Jian County was established in the middle of Ming Dynasty, Xiangtan soon became the most important trade center in Hunan. In the twenty-second year of Qianlong (1757), Emperor Qianlong restricted western businessmen to trade only in Guangdong on the grounds that "foreign businessmen's mistakes will cause trouble". Xiangtan, as the transportation center of inland and Lingnan, has become a transit point for China's foreign trade, and betel nut transported from Hainan to inland via Guangdong naturally has to be transshipped via Xiangtan. With the increasingly close ties between Xiangtan and Guangdong, the betel nut custom from Guangdong soon took root here. During the Xianfeng period, betel nut was the main commodity sold by Guangdong businessmen to Xiangtan, and it became common for Xiangtan people to chew betel nut.

Betel nut in Xiangtan in Qing Dynasty was still the original combination of lime leaves. In the 1930 s, caramel, spiced and rose oil appeared in Xiangtan betel nut. In order to enter Changsha market in the Republic of China, betel nut merchants removed leaves and reduced lime, and invented new varieties with sweet taste, such as betel nut with cinnamon oil and brown sugar. These varieties soon became popular in other cities and counties. This is the general process of betel nut's popularity in Hunan.