Tom Standage believes that the world’s history was affected by beverages and they way they had changed peoples lives
Tom Standage believes that the world’s history was affected by beverages and they way they had changed peoples lives. In “A History of the World Through 6 Glasses” this is shown through the way that beer, tea, coffee, rum, whiskey, and coca-cola have changed history. In the beginning of time people only relied on water as they were hunter gatherers so anything else would have took time and they would have had to stay in one place. It was not important for them to stay in one place until they discovered farming and beer.
Beer impacted the world by helping to enforce the shift from being hunter gatherers, to starting a community. People began to become a part of agriculture after the realized they could store grains for a long time rather than finding new ones as they moved. After they first discovered beer the new farmers tried to recreate it. As they waited for crops to grow they began building homes to stay in and constructing supply buildings to store the surplus. In these buildings people also stored religious items along with other goods. It would have been a waste to leave these buildings only to build new ones if they had moved, so they stayed in one spot. These soon created communities that began to expand until they were later civilizations. To keep track of everyone doing their duties in a community people were given tokens, which later started accounting, writing, and more. After beer had become popular and it was known to a large amount of people, it became a social drink that was only drunk with others. The demand for beer was so great and it started to be used as a form of currency. Beer was also thought of in a religious way but not as highly as wine.
Wine was a religious drink that in christianity was a symbol of the blood of Christ. It was also thought to be worthy for the consumption of the gods because of its scarcity and its high price. Unlike beer, wine was only drunk at meals until later when people drank it to become intoxicated and have conversations about certain thoughts in a community. Many doctors prescribed wine to help fight colds and everyday illnesses. Finer wine and a large variety of wines were available only to the wealthy, while poorer people could only drink cheap and stale wines.
