Liquid Bread Beer and Brewing in Cross-Cultural Perspective [Paperback]

Beer is an ancient alcoholic drink which, although produced through a more complex process than wine, was developed by a wide range of cultures to become internationally popular. This book is the first multidisciplinary, cross-cultural collection about beer. It explores the brewing processes used in antiquity and in traditional societies; the social and symbolic roles of beer-drinking; the beliefs and activities associated with it; the health-promoting effects as well as the health-damaging risks; and analyses the modern role of large multinational companies, which own many of the breweries, and the marketing techniques that they employ.

Wulf Schiefenhövelis Head of the Human Ethology Group, Max- Planck-Institute, Andechs, Germany; Professor for Medical Psychology and Ethnomedicine at the University of Munich; President of the International Society for Human Ethology; and European deputy chair of the International Commission on the Anthropology of Food and Nutrition (ICAF). He has carried out field studies in Melanesia since 1965.

CHOICEOUTSTANDING ACADEMIC BOOK OF THE YEAR 2011

WINNER OF THE 2011 GOURMAND WORLD COOKBOOK UK AWARD

This important volume sheds new light on the social, political, and economic role of beer in society and greatly increases the depth and breadth of anthropological studies on drinking. Schiefenh?vel and Macbeth have compiled a holistic and to some extent comprehensive volume that embraces biological, archaeological, linguistic, and sociocultural perspectives on beer...Highly Recommended. ?????Choice

This volume has three main strengths, although a careful reading of each of its chapters will yield many other gems of insight and information&makes a solid and I expect long-lasting contribution to the anthropology of food.? ??JRAI

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