T'was the morning after and all through the house...

Not a creature was stirring because they were all hungover...

The Drinker - Henri de Toulouse Lautrec

  So how are we all this morning then...bright as a button or feeling a little the worse for wear....? From now until the end of the year some of us may well experience one or two of those festive hangovers even though we all know all the sensible things we should do in advance...no drinking on an empty stomach, don't mix your drinks, take on plenty of water... but lets face it, 'sensible' sometimes goes MIA on these occasions. And so you wake up from a disturbed sleep with a shrunken brain banging back and forth against your skull and a stomach doing Olympic class somersaults and wonder why the whole world has turned the volume up! Well that's what I've been told anyway...

And yes ladies – women do suffer from more severe hangovers than men because (here's the science bit) we have lower levels of a stomach enzyme called gastro alcohol dehydrogenese which means less alcohol gets deactivated before being absorbed into our systems - women absorb a third more alcohol than men of the same size when they drink the same amount. And it gets worse as we get older too since we develop higher blood alcohol concentrations drinking the same amount as we did when we were younger. All good news for us girls then.

So what can you do to shake off a hangover? Everyone has their favourite method from a good old fry up to the infamous Prairie Oyster or sweating it out in the Gym (people really do that?) but I thought I'd do a little 'googling' to see what other things are thought to cure a hangover. If you are actually feeling a little delicate you might not want to read this just yet...

Buffalo milk

No, not the stuff they turn into mozzarella...this remedy from Namibia is a concoction of ice cream, dark rum, cream liqueur, spiced rum, and whole cream, whipped into something that sounds delicious but some how doubtful as a cure.

Deep fried Canaries

According to Urban Legends, deep fried canaries were the remedial choice for the Ancient Romans. They loved a cheese and wine bash apparently and when the upper classes had partied a little too hard they would be served deep fried canaries with salt and pepper.

Sour Pickle Juice

For the Polish it's the pickled juice from the jars of pickled vegetables and fish that banishes a hangover. They believe its high levels of electrolytes help repair the liver damage after one too many beverages and are just as hydrating as water.

Pickled Plums

Small, red and seriously sour 'Umeboshi' plums pickled in acidic vinegar are a popular post-drinking remedy in Japan. They're eaten whole by the brave or put them into green tea to allow the salty flavours to infuse into the liquid.

Tripe Soup

In Romania the edible lining of a cows stomach is boiled in a salty, greasy broth and eaten in a soup, complete with cream, garlic and onions and is considered to be the perfect way to cure a hangover.

 

Pickled Herring

Pickled or marinated herring made by wrapping a fillet of herring around chunks of onion and sliced gherkin is what the Germans call their 'KaterFrühstück' which means 'hangover breakfast'.

Shrimps

For Mexicans 'Vuelva a la Vida' foods, foods are the best cure. This means 'return to life' and the foods include copious amounts of shrimps especially in a a zesty shrimp salad.

Well I don't know about hangover remedies – most of these sound more like aversion therapy to me and should the need arise I personally will be sticking to my preferred method of being left alone for 3 days to wallow in self pity. But if you have any tried and tested cures that are a little more palatable than these please do share.

Don't forget to check out the AJE teams Black Friday sales - details and coupon codes here.

Lesley