Booze in food
 

Well, one week in and it feels good. Being on SR is really helping as is reading about AVRT, which sits well with me in terms of how I want to tackle my drinking problem. However, I wonder what folks on SR think about booze in food. By that I mean things like chocolate liqueurs, Bailey's ice cream, sherry trifle, mince pies with brandy butter, etc. Foods where alcohol adds flavour and is not cooked out.

I am a bit conflicted here as to eat food items such as these is, in effect, letting alcohol pass ones lips. On the other hand I feel that I would be OK eating these if someone offered them as my mind views them as food items, rather than a 'drink'.

The reason I ask is that my partner has bought me a bottle of Limoncello for my birthday, prior to my stopping drinking. His attitude is, oh well, let's make some Limoncello ice cream (I absolutely love lemon flavoured desserts).

I am not sure how I feel about the prospect of letting alcohol-containing food pass my lips. Whilst I feel that it would not be something that would trigger my urge to drink alcohol, I am a bit conflicted about 'breaking my duck'.

Btw - I am still using mouthwash that contains alcohol and this does not act as a tigger.

Any thoughts or experiences anyone?
:dunno:

You'll get very mixed responses onthis topic.

Personally I don't like liquor chocolates so woudn't eat them anyway.

When I first got sober I used to have no problem with wine in sauces etc as never used to eat sauce to get drunk. That said.,I recently failed to attend a dinnerparty recently as the food was coq au vin with lots of wine. I don't want to eat anything with alcohol in,whether I think it willtrigger me or not Idon't know but Igenuinely don't want to taste alcohol now

ps alcohol mouthwash isn't good for you anyway-it dehydrates the mouth :)

Alcohol in food was a big trigger for me. I was one of those who didn't bother cooking unless I could pour half a bottle of wine into it. I couldn't eat risotto for months, and when I did, sans wine, it tasted just fine. But I have had moments when eating out when I have accidentally tasted something with wine in it and it has triggered me. I am always cautious with deserts now where often the alcohol won't have been cooked but just the taste bothers me. I switched to an alcohol free mouth wash too. I may be being over cautious but I don't see the problem with that knowing how I felt when I was drinking. I don't want to risk going back to that. I didn't reset my sobriety date when I had some of that wine based curry though :)

Hmm that's an interesting one. I am not the sort of person who goes on a bender after a liqueur chocolate, but I would be very wary of allowing uncooked alcohol into my life in any form during early recovery. It wouldn't necessarily cause harm but you need to be very careful.

I personally avoid any food with alcohol in it. I would not risk anything being a potential trigger for me. I just feel safer avoiding anything that may contain alcohol at all costs. I just think why chance it?.

I think you have to be quite clear in your own mind what you're trying to do here before going down that ice-cream route! One week is great going but it isn't very long and you might like to wait a while.
I was in much the same position after I gave up, so I thought I'd keep it (a bottle of gin - a Christmas present) for a year and then decide how I felt. As it turned out my wife had drunk it without telling me! Incidentally I personally have no trouble when there's drink in the house; unlike my wife!

I didn't mean "...what you're trying to do here..." in this forum, I meant here as in this situation

Alcohol is present in many things that we don't usually consider as having alcohol in it. Snapple has been banned for sale in Dubai because it contains 0.05% alcohol. I cook with wine in recipes that have long cooking times, but I don't eat deserts that have a lot of alcohol in them. I never drank mouthwash or vanilla extract to get a buzz, but some have done exactly this.

So, I guess it is up to you how you see this - we each of us have made our own peace with this fact of everyday life, and I'm sure you will do the same.

I eat food cooked with alcohol, but not raw ingredients containing it. Having said that I think the motivation you have to consume (or not consume) said foods is much more relevant than the trace amount itself. If you somehow see it as a way to cheat or feel it might lead to a relapse then I'd say avoid it...especially at such an early stage of sobriety.

I agree that it's subjective.

For me I would still add beer to my chili and not think twice about it. That may be a no no for someone else.

The only thing that would trigger me would be ingesting something that had the ability to trip the off switch in my brain that I've worked so hard to disable. For instance, I've never thought of drinking mouthwash to achieve an effect so it wouldn't bother me to use it if it had alcohol in it. I wouldn't eat a chocolate though if it had alcohol within that could possibly result in creating even a minute buzz.

It's not about the liquid for me, it's about the feeling. If there's no possibility of the spark there's no fire.

Hasn't been a problem for me so far, and if the merest hint of beer or wine in my food is going to snap my run of sober days I have seriously overestimated my grip on sobriety.

a fool is one who fools themselves
 

I think most recovered alcoholics have learned by now
to stay far away from these
sure
there may be no problem
but
for ones such as myself
sobriety is just to darn important to be fooling around

a fool is one who fools themselves


Mountainman

i have taken a sip of communion wine each sunday since i have given up drinking( day 23--3 sundays) i didn't even think about it the first sunday since mentally thi is nit drinking to me. i believe i have been sobor for 23 days these 3 sips. Now i don't say this to encourage anyone to do anything--people should do their best to stay sober. did i do the wrong thing????

I think this is different. There is a thread on communion wine in the Christians in Recovery section which I found very useful on this issue

Alcohol Burn-off Chart

I don't use alcohol in my cooking or knowingly ingest alcohol in food.

Communion is pretty much another subject sgs and I encourage you to look at these other links :)

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...communion.html

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...nion-wine.html

basically in all of this - be true to yourself...if anything triggers you it makes sense not to do it again if you want to stay sober.

D

I don't use alcohol in cooking, no extract with alcohol, no food with alcohol, no mouthwash with alcohol or liquid medicine with a alcohol. And definitely no candies with alcohol.

I had scope once at my dentists the day after I got my teeth removed and yikes. I could taste and feel it.

Putting it in your ice cream is no different than putting it in a glass. However, that is just my opinion. At the end of the day people have to do what works for them.

Food cooked in wine doesn't bother me at all. But I've not bought wine to cook in food since I quit drinking, and won't for a while, if ever. Not sure about rum raisin ice-cream and if it contains rum... I eat Haagen Dazs, and it is listed in the ingredients. It hasn't triggered me one bit. So I keep eating it.

Hi Badga, Personally I avoid any foods with alcohol. I don't see the need to risk my sobriety. Best wishes to you.

I stay well away from any food containing Alcohol.

Madness for an Alcoholic to take Alcohol in any form,if I was allergic to peanuts I would make very sure I stayed well away from them.

Interesting topic. I once watched a weird science experiment on TV to test how many chocolate liqueurs it took to be over the drink drive limit. From what I recall it was over 150. With triggers to drink whether that be taste or smell everyone is different so it is down to personal choice.
Alcohol burns very easily with heat so alcohol in hot food will not get you drunk. Funny enough I had Chicken Chasseur ffrom a jar for tea. The alcohol had been burnt off but there was a lingering smell of red wine. This did not trigger me but evryone is different.
You also mention mouthwash. It is quite surprising where you can get alcohol - cough medicine and toothpaste. Even if you allow a bananna to ripen too much alcohol will be produced!