What If What if alcohol never existed? - Printable Version
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+---- Thread: What If What if alcohol never existed? (/showthread.php?tid=8852)
What if alcohol never existed? - Kyng - 02-12-2021
A while back, I created a What-If thread on the subject of "What if cheese never existed?". This one is similar, but on the subject of alcohol
. Anyway, alcohol is an important part of the lifestyle and cuisine of much of the world. But, what if, for whatever reason, it never was? Perhaps it turns out to be impossible to make, or the alcohol that people do make turns out to be unsafe for human consumption (and more suitable for use as a fuel or something like that). Or, perhaps it just turns out to taste disgusting. How does this change things?
In particular:
- What would people drink instead of alcohol? Would non-alcoholic beverages that are similar to alcoholic ones (e.g. root beer) still be created, or would people be drinking something entirely different?
- Alcohol isn't just used as a drink, but also as an ingredient in food recipes. How might some of these recipes be different?
- Obviously, people won't be able to get drunk (sorry, Nilla
), and we won't have all the resulting societal problems. So, are there any other societal problems that become bigger issues in this alternate universe?
- This one's a bit off the wall, but how are the major world religions different? Jesus can't turn water into wine (or perhaps he can, but has no reason to), so what does he turn it into instead? And if we're using something else instead of alcohol, is that "something else" still prohibited in Islam?
- How is world history different? You wouldn't have had Prohibition in 1920s America (unless they just prohibited something else instead) - so, how does that change things?
I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on some (or all) of the above questions!
RE: What if alcohol never existed? - Kreashko - 02-12-2021
For me it would be no different. Since I don't drink and most likely never will.