Sterk bought this tiny bundle of chew sticks last year from an Indian street vendor in Dubai, and she was awed by the care and attention that went into its packaging. “You could buy 10 stacks like this for a euro,” she says. “It was cheap, but so nicely presented — tied together with a piece of thread — that it looked really valuable. That same day, I was in a shopping mall where they had this South American root for lighting incense. It was much more expensive for the same amount of wood, and it came in a plastic bag.”