Interesting article on beer
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Awolphotography
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I'm sure it is, however I couldn't bring myself to click on a daily mail link!
Me neither - and you can even can get a Chrome addon that diverts you if you do it by mistake.
What the article says is an old story (in both senses...), and basically says that the desire to make beer drove hunter/gatherers to settle down and turn to agriculture.
What the article says is an old story (in both senses...), and basically says that the desire to make beer drove hunter/gatherers to settle down and turn to agriculture.
oldjiver
Landlord.
Yes, there were very few pubs then, so you had to make your own.
evanvine
Landlord.
What a pathetically banal leftist outlook!
jonnymorris
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I think it might have been a joke.
evanvine
Landlord.
Hmm!
It is an interestinmg idea which might be discussed quite reasonably on this forum. It just happens to have appeared in my Father -in law's favoured publication. Can we please not get into political arguments, because there are enough of them in the real world. 
Grinding the grains (between two large flat stones) to make enough bread to feed a small family would take hours - hence the modern expression "the daily grind".
It would be interesting to compare the energy expenditure needed to turn barley into bread with that required to turn an equivalent amount into beer and relate that in turn to the calorific benefits from consumption.
If the expenditure / consuption ratios were roughly similar, then it is a no brainer to me.
Grinding the grains (between two large flat stones) to make enough bread to feed a small family would take hours - hence the modern expression "the daily grind".
It would be interesting to compare the energy expenditure needed to turn barley into bread with that required to turn an equivalent amount into beer and relate that in turn to the calorific benefits from consumption.
If the expenditure / consuption ratios were roughly similar, then it is a no brainer to me.
Awolphotography
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jonnymorris said:
I'm afraid not. Every click increases their advertising revenue, and I for one have no intention of increasing the coffers if those particular bigoted **** wipes.
As we are posting interesting things, here's an interesting little video
http://youtu.be/r9dqNTTdYKY
evanvine
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Yes Vossy, I can feel it coming, no further comment from me!
Awolphotography
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evanvine said:
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bobsbeer
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An interesting but rather superficial article aimed obviously at the masses with little academic argument. The only hypothesis being the amount of labour put into grinding grain for flour as opposed to brewing it. A bit of a weak argument. But then it is a Daily Mail article. :grin:
I think there is archaeological evidence too. If I remember correctly they have found much older evidence of brewing than of making bread.
Remember that beer has been blamed for all sorts of things, not just the birth of civilisation. The invention of the thermometer, a few other things I've forgotten, and even the railways. (Of course the reality is that no single factor was the cause of any of these inventions, but it's certainly true that making and transporting beer has been the driving force for the realisation and commercialisation of many developments and ideas.)
Remember that beer has been blamed for all sorts of things, not just the birth of civilisation. The invention of the thermometer, a few other things I've forgotten, and even the railways. (Of course the reality is that no single factor was the cause of any of these inventions, but it's certainly true that making and transporting beer has been the driving force for the realisation and commercialisation of many developments and ideas.)
When I looked further at the author's work, it is based on analysing the residues at the bottom of old pots and is fairly dry from most perspectives. The line that "brewing precipitated civilisation" is just one the guy uses in lectures to get a laugh and make sure some the ausience is awake.
If Jared Diamond's conclusion is correct - that no hunter gathering society ever took up farming by choice - it was always necessity, caused by human overpopulation, then the agrument about beer vs bread is a bit academic anyway. The technology for brewing and baking is pretty similar and the two would go hand in hand.
If Jared Diamond's conclusion is correct - that no hunter gathering society ever took up farming by choice - it was always necessity, caused by human overpopulation, then the agrument about beer vs bread is a bit academic anyway. The technology for brewing and baking is pretty similar and the two would go hand in hand.
