The California World Affairs Council has a wonderful lecture by Tom Standage, Technology Editor for The Economist and author of A history of the World in Six Glasses. His overview of his book seperates history into six eras, dictated by types of drink. It’s available here (mp3 or real audio). Good stuff starts about 5 mins into the lecture.
Did you know?
- Pyramid builders were paid in beer
- Agriculture may have been ‘invented’ to make beer, not bread
- Scholarly gatherings are called “Symposiums” because of Roman communal wine drinking
- Jesus’ first miricle involved wine, and it was the last drink before his death
- Trade Triangle (Slave Trade) involved brady/liqour trade as much as slaves
- Britian’s Naval supremacy was due to rum (grog, actually)
- At one point there was 1 coffee shop in London per 300 people in 1700s (take that, starbucks)
- The London stock exchange started as a coffee shop
- The French Revolution started in a coffee shop!
… and there’s lots of other fun bits of knowledge. Obviously history has more factors than just beverages, but this is a wonderful way to learn about the historical impact of our favorite drinks. It’s about an hour long, check it out.