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The theory on grain production


Probably the first and largest change in human history took place in the Stone Age, when the nomadic hunter-gatherer societies evolved into settled agrarian societies. No-one has yet provided an adequate explanation to why this development took place, especially because hunters usually have an easy and untroubled existence compared to agrarians. Hunters need only work 4-5 hours a day to procure food, whereas farmers frequently have to toil from sunrise until sunset to feed their families.

It is therefore hard to imagine that the transition from hunter society to agrarian society took place voluntarily - the hunters at the time have hardly thought: "If we start to slog like maniacs and plant these grains, wait patiently for them to ripen, harvest them, separate the grains from the glumes, grind the grains to flour, make a dough from flour and water and yeast, and bake the dough to a bread, then... well, it will hardly be easier than just going out in the wood and shoot a deer, but it will be an interesting change, at least..."

One greatly wonders why people suddenly started to work themselves to the bones as farmers, rather than gathering the food that was readily available in the surrounding nature. It can hardly be because they got an irresistible craving for white bread, rather than wild boars, freshly caught cod, and wild berries and fruits.

One probably has to think in simpler terms: Bread is not the only product you can make from grain - it can also be used to brew beer! And that is probably the main reason why the Stone Age's hunter tribes settled down as farmers - in order to brew and swill lots and lots of beer. The early hunters have probably discovered brewing by chance, experienced the piquant exhilaration that a couple of beers or three can bring about, and thought: "Damn, this really tastes good! We must have some more of that" and then completely reorganised their entire society with the intent of producing grain for brewing beers. Only later did they think of making bread, when they discovered that if you live solely on beer, you quickly become seriously malnourished.

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