Todd Moody wrote

> then it hardly makes sense that they would be considered a blessing.
> And while I can accept a very early date for the discovery of
> fermentation of fruit juices, I have a little more trouble with
> pre-agricultural beer.  As a former home brewer

I'm a home brewer too but mostly mead. I think many people underestimate
the intelligence and ability of early man. We only have the stones and
bones to tell the story and that changes with each new discovery. I've
also noticed that men have a different perspective than women. Its OK,
your supposed to. I should clarify here, I'm thinking more of the
transitional period. If man were able to maintain the hunter gatherer
lifestyle I don't think cultivation would have been necessary, early man
changed his diet in order to survive. Grain would be the optimum gift if
starvation was the other option.

>From Troy G.:

>I doubt that bread would call out to an Arctic Inuit or an aboriginal >Australian who'd never considered it as a possible food source.

Up until the turn of the century, (the last one) the hunter gatherer
lifestyle was unbroken with these people. Its only within the past 100
years that we have been able to chart the damage done by adding grains
and sugars to their diets.

Helen