Hangovers are a bitch. And all of us have had them (some, admittedly, more than others). Despite the advances we've seen in various scientific channels over the years, nobody seems to have found a definitive cure for this ailment that comes courtesy of the combination of being irresponsible and mass amounts of alcohol. Many people insist they've concocted a
remedy for the hangover, but none have become universal (meaning: they don't work).
When looking at hangover cures on an international scale, the working theory seems to be that in order to cure a hangover, a person must fill their body with something significantly more disgusting than the poison drank the evening prior. This appears to be true for everywhere except North America, where we tend to stick to more palatable cures like coffee, water, ibuprofen, grease courtesy of a Denny's Grand Slam or maybe a sports drink. If these national tricks don't work for you, however, you can always try one of the international remedies below — if you have the balls, that is.
Dried Bull's Penis (Sicily)
Are you a fan of beef jerky? How about jerky made from a bull's wiener — not so much? According to inhabitants of Sicily, dried bull dong is an incredible cure for a hangover, as the ingredient restores a person's virility and therefore overpowers the hangover, tossing that no-good punk out of your system.
Green Ant Tea (Australia)
Tea is a standard morning beverage whether a person is harboring a hangover or not. Instead of the more traditional blend of ground tea leaves, however, this majestic hangover cure — courtesy of the Aussies — is made from a much less desirable ingredient: pulverized green ant carcasses. Drink up!
Designed for no other purpose, haejangguk literally translates to "soup to cure a hangover," and Koreans have sworn by this stuff for generations. The recipe consists of pork spine, ox blood and cabbage leaves, all of which are then tossed into a zesty broth heavily seasoned with assorted spices.
A morning-after beverage that translates to "tiger milk" is no joke. The drink is an unsavory composite of lime juice, coriander, garlic, onion, chilis, salt, pepper and various seafood offerings and is believed to do the trick — at least for purveyors in Peru. As an added bonus, the potent beverage is believed to be an aphrodisiac, suggesting the drink's secondary purpose is to f*** your hangover away.
Legend has it, in Mexico, nothing cures a tequila-fueled hangover better than cow's stomach stew in a spicy chili pepper broth. The meal is believed to spice the crap out of your system to a point where the alcohol will help loosen your clutch on the toilet.
Pickled Sheep Eyeballs in Tomato Juice (Mongolia)
Arguably the grossest remedy in this article is a hangover cure consisting of sheep eyeballs and tomato juice. Why the eyeballs? Nobody knows, but the tomato juice is believed to rid the toxic alcohol from your system.
Pickle juice was the Gatorade before Gatorade was invented. Professional athletes (and drinkers, of course) would drink it to replenish the electrolytes their bodies shot dead the night prior. It was also an effective means of waking up the next morning since pickle juice is just gnarly.
Sparrow Droppings in Brandy (Hungary)
Yes, bird shit in a stiff drink is considered a hangover cure to some. Unfortunately, only the brandy would help, as drinking more alcohol will get you drunk again (this is what most of us have coined "hair of the dog"). As for the bird crap, well it's bodily waste, and that stuff isn't good for anybody.
Punish The Bottle (Haiti)
According to legend, some Haitian voodoo practitioners would stick 13 black-headed pins into the cork of the bottle that caused them their hangover. Was this ceremony committed to punish the bottle who punished themselves the following morning with nausea? Perhaps, but who the hell knows.
Ground Rhino Horns (Vietnam)
In Vietnam, some people grind rhino horns into hot water and drink it. This is pretty horrible
—
rhinos shouldn't die for a bogus hangover cure. As a result of its unproven benefits, the demand for rhino horns is far greater than the supply, and many rhinos are being poached.
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