Anthony Bourdain Claimed This Chinese Dish Could Cure Hangovers

So you've had the pleasure of drinking a few too many at one of Anthony Bourdain's favorite bars, or experimented with the potent Negroni — the late chef's favorite cocktail, despite his disliking every ingredient in it. Now, you can take inspiration from him even when it comes to dealing with the subsequent hangover. 

Bourdain was famously fond of Asian cuisine, digging deep into the rich culinary offerings of China, Vietnam, Japan, and many more countries in the region. In Season 8, Episode 3 of his food travel show "Parts Unknown," Bourdain introduced French Michelin star chef Eric Ripert to some of his favorite dishes in China's Sichuan Province. The contrast between the two chefs — Bourdain's try-everything intrepidness and Ripert's gentle, slightly hesitant approach to a place and local cuisine that's new to him is fun to watch. 

Over a bowl of mapo tofu served atop steamed rice, Bourdain explained to Ripert how, when he's hungover, the spicy dish will "scare the evil right out" (via YouTube). Funnily enough, what made Bourdain start talking about hangovers was Ripert mentioning how the spice from the mapo tofu was making him feel drunk. So, it seemed that the fiery dish had the ability to cause as well as cure a hangover.

Mapo tofu, Bourdain claimed in the episode, was his favorite Sichuan food. Made from a base of simple but flavorsome ingredients and spiced with the mouth-numbing Sichuan peppercorns, this tofu dish delivers a hit of spice that is balanced by creamy tofu and made rich with ground pork or beef. The dish was part of Bourdain's broader hangover cure, consisting of aspirin, cold Coca Cola, cannabis, and spicy Sichuan food.

Spicy food is often credited with helping with hangovers, and people swear by different fiery concoctions in various parts of the world to counter the effects of a night of heavy drinking. Everything from spicy Japanese ramen and Vietnamese pho to Mexican menudo (slow-cooked beef soup with chilies) is fair game. In fact, even the widely touted hair-of-the-dog bloody Mary gets a hit of spice, with the best-tasting bloody Mary employing a liberal splash of Tabasco. The other popular food category for dealing with hangovers is fried and greasy food, and many love the idea of a hearty plate of deep-fried spuds or a loaded bacon, egg, and cheese muffin the next morning.

Mapo tofu, cooked in chili oil, checks boxes of both these food categories since it is both spicy and quite oily, and has a nice bit of fried meat as well. However, the general consensus among those who have studied hangover cures is that eating such foods with a hangover may not make one feel better. In fact, acidic and spicy foods can actually irritate the stomach, which is already sensitive from alcohol. That said, eating a healthy serving of mapo tofu, or a hearty meal in general, before drinking alcohol may help mitigate the aftereffects.

Unsurprisingly, experts recommend eating plain foods, like bananas, rice, apple sauce, and toast (called the BRAT diet), when nursing a hangover, but it's hard to imagine Anthony Bourdain turning to those unadventurous foods for any occasion, even a miserable hangover. Still, those foods offer nutrients while being gentle on the stomach. Fresh ginger is, perhaps, the only spicy-ish food that will almost certainly help with a hangover since it is known to alleviate nausea and is rich in nutrients.