Wine: is there a better cure for being human? and other food and drink news

Ben Brantley on London Theater, Where Characters Drink to Dull the Pain of Life - Wine is very much on the menu at the Almeida Theater in Islington these days. It is served, of course, at the bar that adjoins the theater. But more important, wine is being extolled as absolutely essential to our daily diet on the Almeida stage, where a riveting production of Euripides’ “Bakkhai” is hypnotizing packed houses. Listen, if you will, to the wise words of the blind seer Teiresias and grab yourself a flagon:

 “Wine is an escape from grief, a slip into sleep, a cool forgetting of the hot pains of the day. What better cure for being human?”

Ben Whishaw utters that eulogy to wine.

Meanwhile, at the Donmar Warehouse, Abi Morgan’s acerbic “Splendour” ... portrays four, mutually contemptuous women gathered for an evening of evasion and confrontation, as the revolution-torn city around them erupts into flames. The drink they share, and occasionally choke on, is appropriately fiery. It’s chili vodka, which was presented to the hostess of this anxious, improvised soiree earlier in the day by a friend who explained that the liquor allows you “to enjoy the pain” of its spice.

Push on for wine tax reforms - The Abbott Government has released its Wine Equalisation Tax (WET) Rebate Discussion Paper aimed at pruning market distorting wine industry subsidies. Submissions to the discussion paper – originally flagged for release in July - are due to close on September 11. A WET Rebate Consultative Group comprising senior wine industry members has also been established as part of the taxation reform process.

Reality bites: shortage of chefs hits restaurant industry growth - Australia’s booming restaurant scene is at risk of stalling as an international chef shortage begins to bite locally. Restaurateurs say a combination of ever-increasing demand for chefs, inadequate training and an indifference to the long-term advantages of doing the hard yards among young adults means chef positions across Australia have become difficult to fill.

Drinking water doesn't prevent a hangover, study says - Raiding the fridge or downing glasses of water after a night of heavy drinking won't improve your sore head the next day, Dutch research suggests. Instead, a study concluded, the only way to prevent a hangover is to drink less alcohol.

Looking for Authentic Wine in the Angel's Share - Researchers develop a method to sniff out counterfeit wine without opening the bottle. A team of researchers at U.C. Irvine believes they have developed a valuable new tool in the battle against counterfeit wines—a test that authenticates wine by extracting wine vapor molecules from the cork while it's still in the bottle.

Natural wine is a natural fit in Tokyo - The natural wine movement is spreading. Everywhere I look in Tokyo, neighborhood wine bars and small bistros are introducing all-natural wine lists. I’m starting to wonder, why does natural wine fit so organically into the city? Japanese consumers were early adopters of natural wine, developing a taste for it in the early 1990s — even before it was a trend in France.

Novels that will make you crave booze - In fiction, at least, the privations and compromises of war can be made much more palatable with judicious amounts of alcohol

You are what you eat: biting into seven common food myths

American Barbecue in Paris - American food used to be a “goofy novelty” to the French, but now they’re tucking into ribs, pork belly and wings, with all the sides.