S C wrote:
>
> Todd Moody wrote:
> > To repeat a point
> I've made before, if paleolithic people hadn't eat grains at
> least sometimes, they never would have cultivated them.
>
> That's an interesting observation.  I wonder what made grains so attractive
> for cultivation as compared to other crops that they ate more often.  I can't
> imagine.


High density calories. Starvation hurts. I imagine it was pure desperation.

Another theory I have read about was that some early evidence points
to beer making before bread making. People wanted to drink alcohol.
Alcohol is a great energy source, and the fermentation process removes
many of the toxins.

Both vinegar and alcohol are produced naturally in overripe fruit.
Bears famously love to eat fermenting fruits, I imagine humans were
right behind!