“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.
Table of Contents:
List of Figures
List of Tables
Preface
List of Contributors
Introduction
Helen Macbeth and Wulf Schiefenhövel
Chapter 1. Natural Ingestion of Ethanol by Animals: Why?
W.C.McGrew
Chapter 2. Healthy or Detrimental? Physiological, Psychiatric and Evolutionary Aspects of Drinking Beer
Peter Kaiser, Gerhard Medicus and Martin Brüne
Chapter 3. Beer: How it’s made – the Basics of Brewing
Keith Thomas
Chapter 4. Interdisciplinary Investigations into the Brewing Technology of the Ancient Near East and the Potential of the Cold Mashing Process
Martin Zarnkow, Adelheid Otto and Berthold Einwag
Chapter 5. Beer in Prehistoric Europe
Hans-Peter Stika
Chapter 6. Beer and Beer Culture in Germany
Franz Meussdoerffer
Chapter 7. Europe North and South, Beer and Wine: Some Reflections about Beer and Mediterranean Food
F. Xavier Medina
Chapter 8. Living in the Streets: Beer Acceptance in Andalusia during the Twentieth Century
Isabel González Turmo
Chapter 9. The Thirst for Tradition: Beer Production and Consumption in the United Kingdom
Paul Collinson and Helen Macbeth
Chapter 10. Beer in the Czech Republic
Jana Parízková and Martina Vlkova
Chapter 11. Alcohol Consumption and Binge Drinking in German Fraternities: Anthropological and Social Psychological Aspects
Gerard Dammann
Chapter 12. Rugby, Racing and Beer in New Zealand: Colonising a Consuming Culture
Nancy J. Pollock
Chapter 13. Beer, Ritual and Conviviality in Northern Cameroon
Igor de Garine
Chapter 14. The Gender of Beer: Beer Symbolism among the Kapsiki/Higi and the Dogon
Walter van Beek
Chapter 15. Ritual Use of Beer in South West Tanzania
Ruth Kutalek
Chapter 16. Brewing Sorghum Beer in Burkina Faso: a Study in Food Technology from the Perspective of Anthropological Linguistics
François Belliard
Chapter 17. Rice Beer and Social Cohesion in the Kelabit Highlands, Sarawak
Monica Janowski
Chapter 18. Tradition and Change: Beer Consumption in Northeast Luzon, Philippines
Dante Aquino and Gerard Persoon
Chapter 19. Culture, Market and Beer Consumption
Mabel Gracia Arnaiz
Chapter 20. Beer and European Media: Global vs. Local
Luis Cantarero and Monica Stacconi
Glossary
Index
About the Author :
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.
Review :
“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. Schiefenhövel 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
“This book is both an excellent source of original interdisciplinary research on many aspects of beer and an entertaining read, suitable for both scholars and the educated general public. It contains well written studies of a beverage that has become a staple in many cultures, including those of the German-speaking peoples.” • Yearbook of German-American Studies
“With contributions from a wide range of disciplines, this book provides an introduction to the social aspects of beer in modern society and how this has evolved over the very many years of its history and development…I found this book to be completely absorbing and thought provoking…an unexpected gem and the perfect book to keep in a travel bag.” • Brewer & Distiller International
“This impressive volume based on an original interdisciplinary and cross-national approach to the study of beer and brewing… will not only make an important contribution to our knowledge of beer and brewing, but also of drinking cultures and historical change. It will be of interest to anthropologists, social scientists and the wider public.” • Marion Demossier, University of Bath
