Beer! Then BBQ.
/johnny
I guess the corollary to this is the saying about giving a man a fish and he will eat for one day, teach a man to fish and he’ll sit in the boat on the lake all day drinking beer.
Beer. It’s not just for breakfast anymore.
It would be interesting to see the documentation behind that factoid.
It IS my perfect recovery drink after a basketball session with those 40-50-60 year old kids; a few pints and a couple of aspirin...I can actually walk he next day!
OLD Theory.
I came up with this idea independently in college when I was taking an anthropology course, but it was already out there then - in the late ‘80s.
BEER.. because BEER has food value.
Followed shortly by fortifications to prevent others from taking your grain by force.
Which came first, beer or the fermentation vat?
I know I will be in the minority here but IMNSHO, beer tastes absolutely nasty to me. I have tried so many different kinds with the same results. I guess it takes all kinds of people to make the world go round...lol.
There’s some interesting twists and turns to this.
People have three latitude zones on Earth: equatorial, temperate and polar.
In the equatorial regions, vegetable food grows year around, but also spoils quickly and is plagued by insects. Starchy foods like bananas may have been used to make the first beers, and are still used as such in those regions.
In the temperate regions, there are typically two growing seasons during the year, and insects and spoilage are less of a problem. Because much grain is grown here, along with other crops, like grapes, they are the big source for beers and wines, which work well as a way to store calories for the winter months.
In the polar regions, with only one short growing season a year, beer and mead from honey, also wine, are essential for their long winters.
Importantly, there is a major exception, that really matters to beer. Egypt. Though in an equatorial desert region, Egypt had only one crop a year, after the annual flooding of the Nile river. So like temperate regions, grew a lot of grain, and spent a lot of time and effort, some 3000 years worth, figuring out how to store it, and convert it to beer. Wine as well.
By the time of the Roman Empire, knowledge from all three regions could be consolidated to produce food and drink.
Makes sense. Too many hangovers means it’s really hard to get up the next morning, pack up camp, and go nomading about all the time. Easier to sleep off the hangovers if you stay in one place.
Bfl
Beer. Nectar of the Gods.
Long time ago I read a book about the history of food, that basically posits the same theory.
Wish I could remember the name of it. It was also a sort of cookbook on how to make all sorts of ancient foods from grains, honey, etc.
Beer WAS my medicine.
I way overmedicated. Twenty years clean and sober come Feb. 5th, 2014.
Beer would also be a valuable trade good. It gives a reason for nomadic herders to stop by your village and trade a sheep for some beer, and have a bbq party.