Kim Jae-hwan, who drinks heavily at least three times a week to socialize with his co-workers, had to find a magic cure to relieve his hangovers so he could work as usual the next morning. His routine of convenience store noodles followed by vitamin pills from the pharmacy seems to do the trick every time.
Haejangguk street in Nakwon-dong, Jongno, Seoul (The Korea Herald file photo)
“After I drink a lot, I get a headache,” said Kim, who recently got a job at a Seoul-based company. “And for me, my methods have really worked.”
As Asia’s heaviest drinkers, South Koreans have come up with various ways to fight the after-effects of alcohol consumption -- some go to public saunas for a steam and some even opt for the unorthodox remedy of drinking alcohol the next morning.
Chasing away a hangover is called “Haejang” in Korean, derived from the word “Haejeong” which literally means to release oneself from a hangover. The word was used to describe a method of downing a glass of alcohol the next morning before breakfast “to ease the stomach.”
One of the most popular methods of relieving a hangover, especially among older men, has been to pay a visit to a sauna, often during a lunch break, to sweat out the alcohol.
Another popular cure is through food. Any soup that is hot and spicy with a bowl of rice -- called Haejangguk -- is a go-to dish. Haejangguk comes in diverse forms and ingredients vary, but it mainly consists of a meat broth with vegetables.
Preferences also vary between those who seek soup spiced with hot chili such as gamjatang (spicy pork and potato soup), and those who opt for a cleaner broth, such as kongnamulguk (bean sprout soup).
Nowadays, the self-treatment of hangovers has become more diversified, with the younger generation soothing their aching stomachs with greasy carbs such as hamburgers or pizzas.
According to a survey on 1,858 office workers by a job search engine Job Korea, 68 percent of the respondents said that they had their own ways to relieve painful hangovers. Of them, nearly 31 percent said they drink a lot of water and soft drinks.
Among those in their 20s, cold water was the favorite cure (26.6 percent), followed by bean sprout soup (25.4 percent) and instant noodles (21.2 percent). For those in their 30s, bean sprout soup was their first choice (35.4 percent), followed by dried Pollack soup (23.8 percent) and water (20.8 percent).
For those in their 40s and 50s, beansprout soup was their favorite dish to combat hangovers.
The survey also showed that among the workers attending drinking sessions twice a week on average, 80 percent of them usually felt sick the next morning, with 61 percent saying the symptoms lasted for at least half of the day.
The report released by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, which surveyed 2,000 Koreans aged 15 or over, found that Koreans on average drank 4.9 glasses of beer (about two pints) and 6.1 shots of soju, a popular grain-based liquor, during a single drinking session in the first half of this year.
Of the surveyed, 58.3 percent showed a pattern of high-risk alcohol consumption by downing more than 8.8 shots of soju for men and 5.9 shots for women.
According to the World Health Organization, South Korea ranked as the heaviest drinking nation in Asia with an average annual alcohol consumption of 12.3 liters per person (converted into 100 percent pure alcohol) as of 2014.
Cashing in on Koreans’ love for alcohol consumption, businesses have rolled out a variety of products ranging from pills, ice cream and jelly to coffee which they claim can cure hangovers.
One of the most popular hangover beverages is CJ Cheil Jedang’s Heotgae Condition, containing oriental raisin tree fruit juice, called Heotgae, known as a traditional hangover remedy.
“I don’t drink often, but when I do, I always drink a hangover-curing beverage like Hutgae Condition,” said Lee Ji-hoon, a 31-year-old office worker. “I am not sure how well hangover beverages have worked for me, but it gives me a mental comfort.”
In May, the convenience store chain Withme, run by Shinsegae, launched a hangover-curing ice cream bar called Gyeondyeo-bar, which translates as “hang in there.” The grapefruit-flavored dessert contains 0.7 percent Heotgae.
Also in May JN Food introduced a “hangover coffee,” an Americano instant coffee, which includes Heotgae powder, Vitamin C and aspartic acid to help binge-drinkers recover from hangovers.
HC Biotech, specializing in medicinal herbs, developed low-sodium instant noodles, called Hwakkaemyeon, which contains salicomia herbacea salt in late 2014. After a brief halt in production due to manufacturing difficulty, the product is expected to hit the shelves again this year.
By Ock Hyun-ju (laeticia.ock@heraldcorp.com)
