Overdone it a bit? Feeling the pinch around the midriff?
Not to mention the bank balance.
Recently my husband and I visited Turkey to attend a marriage ceremony.
We had a great time. Too great a time, as a terrible bout of indigestion kicked in, at one point, for my other half.
Could he get the usual over-the-counter relief? No. So local advice was sought.
“Ah!” A non-English-speaker responded, getting the hang of my husband’s gesticulations. And he pointed to two products on the shop’s shelves.
One purchase was the sainted Lemon, and the other, a bottle of SODA water. Soda water, mind, not tonic or mineral water. According to the bottle pictured above, sodium bicarbonate is the crucial ingredient of soda water, which, the internet tells me, is the same as bicarbonate of soda. Apparently (and this is confusing), baking SODA is just the American term for bicarbonate of soda/sodium bicarbonate; while according to some, baking POWDER is also the same – to others, it has cream of tartar added. Bicarbonate of soda is more powerful, which explains why (perhaps), between two banana cakes tried recently, the one with bicarb in it was softer than the one with baking powder.
So much for cake. Back to indigestion.
To my husband’s surprise, the cure worked. The water is alkalising and hydrating, of course. Lemon is good for the digestion, reduces gas, and can even aid sensible weight loss.
Carbonation is what happens to all three types of fizzy water, with naturally bubbly mineral water having valuable minerals included, such as calcium, magnesium and sodium. Soda water has salts added to it by dissolving carbon dioxide in the water forcefully. Tonic water is also carbonated, but with sugar and quinine added, now available with extra flavours bringing about choice that can become elaborate but no doubt enhances whatever you are having with it.
When it comes to the early modern world, all I can say is “heartburn” was a discomfort understood by the antiquarian and lexicographer Thomas Blount (1618-1679) who coined the term “dyspepsy” for his Glossographia (1656), when we believed the condition was associated with the heart, not the esophagus (reflux, etc.).
Look, if this all seems a bit late in the day, we’ve got Burns Night coming up.
Keep up the water intake!