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The domestication of wild grains has played a major role in human evolution, facilitating the transition from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to one based on agriculture. You might think that the grains were used for bread, which today represents a basic staple. But some scientists argue that it wasn't bread that motivated our ancestors to start grain farming. It was beer. Man, they say, chose pints over pastry.
Beer has plenty to recommend it over bread. First, and most obviously, it is pleasant to drink. "Beer had all the same nutrients as bread, and it had one additional advantage," argues Solomon H. Katz, an anthropology professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Namely, it gave early humans the same pleasant buzz it gives us. Patrick E. McGovern, the director of the Biomolecular Archaeology Project for Cuisine, Fermented Beverages, and Health at the University of Pennsylvania, goes even further. Beer, he says, was more nutritious than bread. It contains "more B vitamins and [more of the] essential amino acid lysine," McGovern writes in his book, Uncorking the Past: the Quest for Wine, Beer, and Other Alcoholic Beverages. It was also safer to drink than water, because the fermentation process killed pathogenic microorganisms. "With a four to five percent alcohol content, beer is a potent mind-altering and medicinal substance," McGovern says, adding that ancient brewers acted as medicine men.
We hold these things to be self-evident: The Internet is for Pr0n, and Civilization is for Beer.
(Score: 3, Disagree) by mendax on Tuesday December 01 2015, @09:33PM
Beer? Pleasant to drink?!? I think not. It is a nasty tasting concoction that smells worse, and is only worth drinking when there is something else to eat with it that complicates its nastiness. Now, an ice cold bottle (it must be almost frozen) of Corona with a slice of lime in the glass is an excellent accessory to Mexican food. But when it gets too warm it becomes about as tasty as Mexican horse piss.
It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday December 01 2015, @09:36PM
There needs to be a -1 Heresy mod.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 01 2015, @10:02PM
If you all stopped gulping up six packs you'd recognize a kinda subtle troll.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Nerdfest on Tuesday December 01 2015, @11:14PM
I used to be of the same opinion ... then I had a beer course as part of my Sommelier certification. I got to try a very wide range of beers from all over. Some I'm not a fan of (mostly the cheap North American crap) but some I absolutely loved. I'm a fan of the Imperial stouts, or even better, Imperial IPAs with ridiculous hop concentrations. The latter are especially good with really spicy food. You may not like any beer, but try some of the different variations, you might be surprised.
(Score: 2) by mendax on Wednesday December 02 2015, @03:01AM
Well, admittedly, I have not tried the entire range of beers. But I've tried craft beers and not particularly liked them. I've tried various versions of American piss water and disliked them. I've tried German beers and hated them. I tried a South African beer when I was in that part of the world and found it truly disgusting.
The only beers I've found tolerable have been Corona, accompanied by Mexican food, and some sort of Chinese beer accompanied by some excellent Chinese food.
However, I've learned that what really makes beer tolerable to drink is when I drink it in the company of friends. My best beer experience was enjoying two bottles of very cold Corona in a bar in the SFO international terminal with my Aussie buddy who was about to return home, my surrogate little brother. The beer was barely tolerable but his company was a welcome distraction.
It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
(Score: 2) by darkfeline on Wednesday December 02 2015, @02:49AM
I think that's just because you've only tried bad beer, a.k.a. pisswater. If you've tried a variety of good beers, I'm sure you'll find one or three that you enjoy.
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 2) by fritsd on Wednesday December 02 2015, @05:25PM
Mendax can I ask you a question, what do you think of the vegetables endive (the green open curly leaves) [wikipedia.org], brussels sprouts, witlof/chicory, (the bleached white closed leaves) [wikipedia.org], chichory (ok nobody eats that anymore in this century; they made crappy bitter surrogate coffee from it in the last)?
I wonder if people who don't like the taste of beer, don't like the taste of bitter vegetables either. Maybe it's a cultural thing of the BeNeLux countries to appreciate "nice bitter" things.
PS here's a *fantastic* salad recipe (in Dutch): http://s-sanders.nl/recepten/?p=4303 [s-sanders.nl] "Andijvie uit de Auvergne". Endive (I mean the raw green leaves) with walnuts and hard cheese and (quite strong) vinaigrette.
(Score: 2) by mendax on Wednesday December 02 2015, @08:45PM
You may ask.
Actually, I love and will eat in abundance brussels sprouts, spinach, broccoli, and cauliflower if cooked. No added butter required. I'll even eat raw baby spinach in a salad. Marvelous stuff. But I am not a fan of bitter things in general.
I think some of my aversion to beer is generally an aversion to alcohol in general. But then I don't like coffee either unless I make it tolerable with much half and half and some sort of sweetener. And even then I rarely drink it because it often gives me the shits. However, if you want to give me very spicy Indian or Pakistani food, the stuff that burns the lips, blackens the tongue, and will blow out the worse case of clogged sinuses I will give you my everlasting gratitude.
It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.