I haven't yet had a chance to look them up (a polite way of saying I'm too lazy, and prefer the sound of my keyboard to that of my lips moving as I mouth the more difficult words of undoubtedly heavy academic texts), but I'm sure there are serious studies on the link between food and drink and other aspects of human civilization, such as religion and political system.
But instead of making this another illegible treatise, here is my little slurping and burping summary of Western history, as seen from the point of view of liquids.
It all started with water: the infant Democracy was raised on rain. Then, there was wine, which was great fun until it toppled the Roman Empire (the preservatives used in the wine apparently made them go mad). But the Catholic Church survived, and carried the wine, now sacred, along in silver and gold chalices. Islam tried to return to water (not much of a surprise here, considering their dry and dusty desert origins), and up north, where grapes don't grow, the beer belt belched forth the Protestants, quite a few of which escaped to plant their grain in another belt, in the U.S. And to complete my little overview, even further north and to the east, the Communist revolution was fuelled by "little water" (vodka).
Now of course, we all drink just about anything; the world has become one big drinks mixer. No wonder so many people's lives are on the rocks.
I'll have mine shaken, but not stirred, please.
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