By Paul Richardson and Mikhail Ivanov
There cannot be not enough snacks,
There can only be not enough vodka.
There can be no silly jokes,
There can only be not enough vodka.
There can be no ugly women,
There can only be not enough vodka.
There cannot be too much vodka,
There can only be not enough vodka.
-- Russian saying
It could be argued that 1998 is the 600th anniversary of the arrival of vodka in Russia. One 19th century source on Russian culture, food and folkways notes that "it can probably be supposed that vodka appeared here no earlier than 1398, when the Genoese began shipping vodka to Lithuania and acquainted us with the pernicious drink."
If this is the case, then it took several decades for this "pernicious drink" to take root in Russia. For most contemporary experts cite the mid- to late-1400s as the time when vodka began to be distilled in Russia. Within another 100 years, the state was starting to move in and set up a monopoly over the production and sale of vodka that would last -- but for a thirty year hiatus -- for the next four centuries. Over that period, vodka has come to play a vital role in Russian culture, in the financing of the Russian state, and, sadly, in the destruction of families and individuals due to alcoholism, abuse and accidents.
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