# Meals and booze

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meals-and-booze/150546>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 23, 2003, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meals-and-booze/150546 "2003-01-23T21:37:32Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Fish\_Cheer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fish_cheer/32/17179_2.png) [@Fish\_Cheer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish_Cheer)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meals-and-booze/150546/1 "2003-01-23T21:37:32Z")

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Around here, people often chase large, fatty meals with one or two shots of schnapps (mostly icky herbal stuff, like _Underberg_) - “to aid digestion”.

Is there any physiological justification for this?

Bloated, M.

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**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meals-and-booze/150546/2 "2003-01-23T22:15:08Z")

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This [site](http://proven.virtualave.net/alcohol.html) says a glass of wine can aid digestion. That doesn’t prove it’s true, but it’s a starting point.

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**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meals-and-booze/150546/3 "2003-01-23T22:17:19Z")

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I don’t think so. But it a widespread custom. In Normandy, it’s a “trou Normand” - a Norman hole - taken in between courses.