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Hangover Cures

The Day After

Ulysses (by Joyce, James)
The Poems of Oscar Wilde : Volume 2 (by Wilde, Oscar)
Cooking Papa 10: Simple Hangover Rice So... Volume No. 10 (by Tochi, Ueyama)

There are countless reasons to celebrate: birthdays, weddings, retirement, holidays, or other milestone occasions. In many cultures, music sets the scene and revelers often celebrate by enjoying a meal with some champagne, wine, cocktails, or other alcoholic beverages.

Sometimes revelers overindulge. After the celebration, they awake with a pounding headache often accompanied by an upset stomach and a feeling of being sluggish, a condition we call a hangover.

Hangovers have been around since people first started indulging in alcohol. Literary works such as Breakfast at Tiffany’s and The Great Gatsby include party scenes in which guests or hosts indulge.

Many literary greats such as Ernest Hemingway, Dorothy Parker, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Oscar Wilde wrote about excessive drinking, hangovers, and remedies.

In The Poems of Oscar Wilde, Vol. II, Wilde writes, “And drink the jewel-drunken wine and bend her head in mimic awe.” (p. 89)

In Ulysses, James Joyce writes,

O, won’t we have a merry time,
Drinking whisky, beer and wine!
On coronation,
Coronation Day.

When sobriety sets in, people are often in desperate need of hangover cures. These differ from culture to culture. In Italy, people believe that high quantities of ultra-strong espresso will remedy their hangovers while Russians believe in the power of a sauna and some kvass, a mildly alcoholic drink made from stale rye bread. Americans believe in the power of the prairie oyster, a remedy James Joyce wrote about. It consists of raw egg, hot sauce,Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, tomato juice, vinegar, salt, and black pepper.

In Cooking Papa: Simple Hangover Rice Soup, author Ueyama Tochi narrates a wedding scene in which one of the guests becomes intoxicated. To relieve his discomfort, someone prepares him an “Italian-style rice soup” that is known to cure hangovers.

By Regina Molaro