One fundamental distinction that can be made is between southern and northern Europe, i.e. between areas forming part of the so-called ‘wet culture’ - in which, according to an age-old tradition passed on through the generations from each person’s earliest childhood, wine is served with food, is something to be drunk with pleasure and to be taken in moderation, and forms part of the local cultural and
traditional heritage - and the ‘dry’ culture - in which, as a result of the mood-changing properties attributed to alcohol and the fact that it is not consumed as a part of normal day-to-day patterns, alcohol is drunk outside meal times, ge
...[+++]nerally at weekends and in huge quantities for the purpose of losing one's social inhibitions and escaping the conformism and rigidity imposed by social mores.