There was a fascinating article in Scientific American years ago about the evolution of European diets from the middle ages to the present and the influence that te discovery of distillation had, both technically and philosophically (for instance, it used ot be believed that digestion was fermentation, but then the belief changed to distillation - this also informed the choice of what constituted a healthy meal, and the order of courses). What we now call "french cuisine" originated from this transition.

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman