Finally mentioning a drink
So I have been hyper focused on the premier of my NA Program tool. I certainly do not participate in the No to Low alcohol movement and have often called my friends doing “Dry January”, “quitters”. The truth is that I only marginally understand the movement. Alcohol has health effects, a lot of people develop unhealthy relationships with it and I think you can be happy drinking, or not drinking.
As someone who has worked to moderate my drinking not just from pandemic levels but also wine education pursuits, I was really shocked to find how interesting the world of NA beverages is. In reality we tend to drink coffee, tea, sparkling water or an occasional pop (full sugar for me, none of the zero sugar shit). My biggest problem in what I saw personally representing “the movement” was $7 soda water and bitters, $16 juices and out of the can/bottle NA products.
In realizing that there’s a whole world of more fun and interesting drinks that can easily be a part of your everyday life was actually a blast. I already make chicha morada and drink plenty of leche de tigre when we make ceviche.
Seeing pepper waters and other recipes mentioned in the inspiration section of my book was an eye opener of how boring most of my liquid consumption is. Further I thought about what great mixers all of these things would make… I mean, I still drink so… I think maybe there’s a bright light at the end of the tunnel for the industry as people develop more interesting palates through this movement, even if volume suffers.
The long way of getting here is, I love huancaina sauce. It’s this amazing pepper and fresh cheese sauce made with some boiling water and thickened with crackers. My family can literally watch me consume it by the spoonful, only because drinking it might be too far. I’ve been chewing on the idea of a Bloody Mary like cocktail with it. After all Peru has a history of thick, umami, although sweet cocktails, with algarobinna.
People already drink dirty martinis padded with cheese and lactose, brine and all sorts of other thickeners and salt..if..iers.
Let’s just drop the pretense and say you want to drink cheese outright, just like I do.
So please, some brave soul in this universe take part with me in searching to make a huancaina martini, sour and Mary.