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I've been on here for awhile, and haven't contributed much. After a few years of interest i fear i still don't have the skills to be able to offer much advice however, i can do book reviews. and so i shall contribute a few if that's alright. The research in Tastes of Paradise is solid, and this book is jam-packed with cool historical images of the stimulants and intoxicants described. But the great interest of this book lies in the more broad-reaching comments the author provides on the changing roles drugs play within a range of European cultures over time. These can be quite thought-provoking and insightful such as the contrast Schivelbusch provides between the place of coffee as a Protestant drug and chocolate as a Catholic drug. The connection between Protestantism and coffee is nothing really new, and not very radical to make, but the contrast the author establishes between coffee and the role of chocolate in Catholic cultures was, at least for me, a new perspective that i found quite interesting to entertain. One good example of the importance of chocolate for Catholic countries lies in the nutritional richness that chocolate provides whilst still being consumed as a liquid. As such it allowed Catholic communities to imbibe without breaking their religiously ordained fasting periods, such as Lent. Fascinating. https://www.goodreads.com/book/photo/141602.Tastes_of_Paradise