Liquid bread : beer and brewing in cross-cultural perspective / edited by Wulf Schiefenhövel and Helen Macbeth.

ISBN:

9780857452160

Title:

Author:

Schiefenhövel, Wulf, 1943- editor.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xv, 247 pages) : illustrations.

Series:

The anthropology of food and nutrition ; v. 7

Contents:

Assembling perspectives on beer / Natural ingestion of ethanol by animals : why? / Healthy or detrimental? Physiological, psychiatric and evolutionary aspects of drinking beer / Beer : how it's made : the basics of brewing / Interdisciplinary investigations into the brewing technology of the Ancient Near East and the potential of the cold mashing process / Beer in prehistoric Europe / Beer and beer culture in Germany / Europe north and south, beer and wine : some reflections about beer and Mediterranean food / Living in the streets : beer acceptance in Andalusia during the twentieth century / Thirst for tradition : beer production and consumption in the United Kingdom / Beer in the Czech Republic / Alcohol consumption and binge drinking in German and American fraternities : anthropological and social psychological aspects / Rugby, racing and beer in New Zealand : colonising a consumer culture / Beer, ritual and conviviality in Northern Cameroon / Gender of beer : beer symbolism among the Kapsiki/Higi and the Dogon / Ritual use of beer in South-West Tanzania / Brewing sorghum beer in Burkina Faso : a study in food technology from the perspective of anthropological linguistics / Rice beer and social cohesion in the Kelabit Highlands, Sarawak / Tradition and change : beer consumption in Northeast Luzon, Philippines / Culture, market and beer consumption / Beer and European media : global vs. local

Subject Term:

Drinking customs -- Cross-cultural studies.

Drinking of alcoholic beverages -- Cross-cultural studies.

Beer -- Social aspects.

Brewing -- Social aspects.

Added Author:

Schiefenhövel, Wulf, 1943-

Macbeth, Helen M.,

Format:

Electronic Resources

Electronic Access:

Click here to view
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Publication Date:

2011

Publication Information:

New York :

Berghahn Books,

2011.

Available:*

Shelf Number	Material Type	Copy	Shelf Location	Status
394.12 22	1:E-BOOK	1	1:ONLINE	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

"This important volume sheds new light on the social, political, and economic role of beer in society.... Highly Recommended."--Choice

A Choice Outstanding Academic Book of The Year 2011

Winner of the 2011 Gourmand World Cookbook UK Award

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.

From the introduction:

What made you pick up this book? Was it the thought of that foaming pint while you relaxed in a British pub, a German beer garden, a Czech restaurant, an American or 'Continental' bar, on a beach or ski slope or in front of the television at home? Wherever your beer was purchased, in much of the world you would have been offered choice. The choice might only have been between different brand names of bottled beer, or it might have been between a wide range of ales, lagers, wheat and other beers from a cask, a keg, cans or bottles. Even people who do not drink beer will be aware of this diversity....the editors believe that this collation of perspectives on beer will also intrigue many readers in the general public.

Author Notes

Wulf Schiefenhövel is 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.

Helen Macbeth is President of the International Commission on the Anthropology of Food and Nutrition (ICAF) and is an Honorary Research Fellow in the Anthropology Department, Oxford Brookes University. Among other books she has edited or coedited are three volumes in this series, Food Preferences and Taste: Continuity and Change , Researching Food Habits: Methods and Problems and Consuming the Inedible: Neglected Dimensions of Food Choice .

Reviews (1)

Choice Review

The desire for beer shaped ancient landscapes, has spurred technological change, and has fused traditional consumers into modern global markets. 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. Schiefenhovel and Macbeth have compiled a holistic and to some extent comprehensive volume that embraces biological, archaeological, linguistic, and sociocultural perspectives on beer. From the biological drive for ethanol, to the archaeological evidence for beer brewing in ancient Europe, to the linguistic underpinning of beer culture in New Zealand, to the solidarity created by ritualized beer drinking in German fraternity houses, the essays in this volume represent all four subfields of anthropology. In addition, the contributors creatively touch upon key themes in the anthropology of drinking, such as the spiritual function of beer, gendered differences in drinking, the nature of alcohol-based sociability, and the use of beer in cementing community bonds and promoting national identities. Some essays also critically deconstruct the marketing campaigns of modern beer producers. A valuable addition to the anthropological literature on alcohol. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries. F. H. Smith College of William and Mary