On Food and Cooking

Sherry  Vinegar

Like all good foods, wine, beer, and spirits
nourish and satisfy the body. What sets them
apart is the very direct way in which they
touch the mind. They contain alcohol, which
is both a source of energy and a drug. In
moderate amounts, alcohol causes us to feel
and express emotions of all kinds —
happiness, conviviality, sadness, anger —
with more freedom. In large amounts, it’s a
narcotic: it numbs feeling and clouds thought.
Alcoholic drinks thus offer various degrees of
release from our usual state of mind. Small
wonder that they were once considered an
earthly version of the nectar of the gods, foods
that give mortals a taste of being carefree
masters of life!
Humankind has always had a thirst for
alcohol, and now satisfies it with mass-
produced drinks that offer an inexpensive
respite from the world and its cares. But some