How do you get over the inevitable hangover? There’s so much advice out there, from the insane to the sensible. We took to social media and combed the Internet for some of the best remedies.
Hangover pizza
Notting Hill’s Bite Me Pizza have announced their limited-edition ‘Hangover pizza’. Not a promotional tie-in with the Hangover comedy film franchise, the pizza is instead intended to “revive tired souls and perk up the undead after a heavy festive drinking season.” It combines bloody Mary sauce on top of a light pizza base with fior di latte mozzarella, sausage, pancetta, mushroom and an egg to top it off.
Hangover heaven
Boasting it is “the only medical practice in the world dedicated to the treatment, prevention and research of hangovers”, Las Vegas’s Hangover Heaven is run by a Duke University trained anaesthesiologist named Dr Burke. Book them when you’re in the area, and they’ll re-hydrate you with a number of IV hydration packages. Alternatively for those aren’t local, they sell supplements to be taken before drinking.
Bacon (with various combinations)
On our Facebook, bacon was a sure-fire winner, as Liam Anthony Crawley suggested “Bacon, fresh juice and coffee”; Martin Tyrell gave the combination “Bacon sandwich on white bread with HP sauce with a bottle of lucozade and flat white coffee with extra shot” and Michael Ó Cléirigh even offered us
scientific proof that a bacon sandwich is the best cure for a hangover.
Eggs
The perfect partner to bacon is eggs, and these in various forms also got your vote of approval. Ray Clear cheekily suggested spicy eggs at his place of work CAU in Blackheath. Continuing with the spicy theme, Jeffrey Robinson suggested the Middle Eastern dish of eggs in a spicy tomato sauce, Shaksuka. Luis Chilaquiles suggested the Mexican dishes “spicy chilaquiles with eggs” as well as “menudo”, which is a traditional Mexican soup made from tripe. Finally Dean Kennedy also suggested eggs and provided some useful advice for those attempting hair of the dog, or drinking more alcohol to lessen the hangover: “neck the first two pints quickly.”
Egg yolks contain large amounts of cysteine, which breaks down acetaldehyde, one of the toxins which cause a hangover.
Being sensible
Andy McGuinness suggested not drinking so much on the first place, and Peter Jackson went further by suggesting we simply “don’t drink”.
The NHS echo this on their site, as they state “The best way to avoid a hangover is not to drink”.
Medical advice
Andy Temple reminded us of the medical staff combination of Dioralyte and bananas. “If it's good enough for medical staff then it’s good enough for everyone else,” he said. Dioralyte is a rehydration medicine originally intended to replace fluids lost during rather less pleasant circumstances.
Being a chef
Finally, Jamie Park reminded us of the reality for chefs when he offered: “A 16 hour shift usually”.
What are you hangover cures? Any odd remedies or concoctions that you swear by?
By Stuart Armstrong