Incredible as it may sound, but it’s true that beer saved the world. This and many more facts emerged about beer (the alcoholic beverage drink that brings celebrations to life at social events and friendly gatherings across the world) at the first ever Nigerian Symposium on Beer and Health in Lagos recently. Health, nutrition, food scientists, medical practitioners and other experts in various fields who graced the symposium revealed incredible tales of positive attributes of beer that are unknown to the public, even many beer consumer today.
For instance, it is not clear how many people (no matter how educated or enlightened) know that beer played a critical and pivotal role in the birth of human civilisation? Or that it played a crucial role in the building of the pyramids, the founding of America, the Industrial Revolution and advancements in medicine? That’s right – beer. Scientists and historians line up to tell the amazing, untold story that puts beer at the centre of the human civilization. Until almost modern times, it wasn’t just a drink—beer was vital to life. Where water contained deadly bacteria, beer was safe, as the fermentation killed the germs. It was drunk by men, women and children for a large period of time, and inspired great moments in human history. Beer was vital to the birth of America from the moment the Mayflower stopped in Plymouth. These and more positive stories of beer, were the focus of the one of the high points of the well-attended symposium- an illuminating documentary production by world renowned documentary channel, Discovery Channel titled: How Beer Saved the World.
In the award-winning investigative research-based documentary on beer, Discovery Channel takes viewers through the accidental discovery of beer brewing process by women in ancient Mesopotamia community, and captivated the audience in a roller-coaster journey through the various developmental stages to the emergence of modern day, thriving brewing industry.
Buttressing Discovery Channel’s arguments in the documentary, nutritionists, medical practitioners, food scientists, chefs and sundry experts in related fields who participated in the first ever Nigerian Symposium on Beer and Health in Lagos recently not affirmed the film’s well-founded and empirical evidence showing how the invention and evolution of the beverage product helped saved our world and triggered agricultural/industrial revolutions and other technological-based revolutions in the world as we know it today, but unanimously admit that new studies and research results and evidence have shown that beer is a healthy, nutritious and refreshing drink for humans when consumed in moderation.
The documentary prepared the audience for the intriguing positive story of beer discourse as worthy starters at the one-day symposium which held inside the cosy bowels of Iris & Jazmine Halls in the highbrow, Eko Hotel & Suite, Victoria Island, Lagos. The highly educative and enlightening documentary by the globally renowned documentary Channel left nothing untouched in its trail of how beer has impacted positively on almost every aspects of life in the world right from its invention to modern industrialised climes. Indeed, the documentary quote one of world’s greatest philosophers, Plato as saying: “He was a wise man who invented beer.”
The one-hour long documentary titled How Beer Saved the World, presents exciting footage of archaeological excavations, chronological explorations into the past, historic discoveries, scientific tests and exploratory findings, digging up empirical facts and evidence to show how beer has help the numerous developmental revolutions the world has witnessed till date.
Produced by Martyn Ives, the documentary posits that though technology and innovation may have changed how the exotic social drink is brewed and enjoyed across times and climes over the years, the over 40,000 thriving beer brands across markets in the world today still share same unique characteristics in content and in character. Every beer is still brewed today using the same traditional four ingredients used when beer brewing was discovered – grains (wheat, barley, corn, sorghum, millet etc.), hops, yeast and water.
Long before now, it is true that there has been much uproar about the fact that alcohol-related abuses have bedeviled the world from time gone by, the reality is, of course, that alcoholics (those who abuse the beverage) have simply over-done it a bit while raising their glass to “the greatest invention of all time”.
The boffins, egg-heads and experts interviewed in How Beer Saved the World offered well-founded views based on sacred facts and empirical evidence to the extent that beer has done more for the world and human civilization and evolution than had been appreciated. World renowned historian, Gregg Smith in his opening comments says “Beer changed the course of human history. Not once, not twice, but over and over again.”
According to Narrator, Henry Strozier, history has it before new in-depth research and studies that mankind stopped being nomadic hunter-gatherers when they began to settle in one place and harvest wheat to make bread. Not so, say the egg-heads in How Beer Saved the World.
According to experts, new research and scientific studies have found evidence that beer predates bread by as much as 3,000 years and that it was the desire to harvest barley (definitely to brew beer) that compelled our ancestors to settle in one place to farm. As the Narrator, stated, the decision of those ancient Mesopotamians to settle down to domesticate the grain (barley) by cultivating and harvesting it for beer began was the beginning of human civilisation and several revolutionary developments as we have today in agriculture and industrial revolutions, urban settlement and territorial governance among others. The decision to domesticate and farm barley for beer in turn led to the invention of many things we still rely on today from the plough (to help break ground easily), irrigation (to help water the important crops) and the wheel (to help transport the harvest). In fact Mesopotamia (contemporary Iraq) – one of the earliest civilisation – was built around the demand for beer.
The documentary traces the important role that beer has played in human history from the probable origins of the first beer at the dawn of history to the development of a special beer for use in zero gravity space missions.
How Beer Saved the World also disclosed how beer may have led to the invention of writing and mathematics. According to likeGeorbeArmelagos, a Professor of Anthropology at Emory University, United States, Chrlie Bamforth, Professor of Brewing Science, University of California, United States, Kyria Bouny-Mills, Professor of Microbiology, University of California, United States, Betsy Bryan, Professor of Egyptology, John Hopkins University and Patrick Hayes, Professor of Food Science, Oregon University all in United States among others who featured in the documentary, Maths and writing were needed to record the “production and distribution of commodities like beer”. This is particularly so in ancient Egypt where beer was used as legal tender to pay labourers’ wages while building the pyramids. The labourers who built the pyramid of Giza received seven pints of beer a day in payment, making the total bill for that job, 1,489,199,995 pints. For the Egyptians it was not just a form of currency but a staple food, added to these, beer was also used to treat illnesses.
In the last few years researchers found the presence of the antibiotic tetracycline (which was only ‘discovered’ in 1948) in the bones of Egyptian mummies. After some more research they found the only place this could have come from was the beer drunk at the time. In fact fast forward a few thousand years and beer was the basis of modern medicine too.
Louis Pasteur wasn’t studying milk when he discovered bacteria, he was studying… yup, you guessed it, beer. He was trying to work out why it sometimes spoiled and he figured that if the little buggers could make beer sick, they could maybe make people sick too. This was basis for germ theory and led to doctors doing simple things like washing their hands between the autopsy room and the maternity ward. Infections dropped and not for the first time, beer had saved millions of lives.
Aside breaking grounds in medicine, beer had already pulled off the same trick in Medieval Europe. Back then water was too dangerous to drink but the brewing process removed the harmful organisms. Again, beer saved millions of lives.
Contrary to views expressed by extreme religionists today, Monks were the original master brewers and the church became rich on the back of their skill. However, as entrepreneurs took over, beer spearheaded the creation of trade, commerce, banking and finance.
By now, it probably goes without saying that beer was responsible for the creation of the United States of America.
How Beer Saved the World also show how beer’s influence on technology continued unabated into the 20th Century. Beer gave the world refrigeration technology after the brewing industry financed research into the process to keep lager chilled. Indeed, the beverage broke further technological grounds and revolutionised the industry when Michael Owens built the first automated production line to make beer bottles in 1904 – some 10 years before Henry Ford took the credit with his cars.
Such is amazing story and influence of beer on the world. Indeed, Smith, in his concluding comments, went as far as to suggest that a new timeline should be constructed for the history of the world, not centred on the birth of Christ but on the creation of beer – BB (Before Beer) and AB (after Beer).
Beer gets negative campaign that paints it in bad and untrue images. It’s regularly blamed for many of society’s ills but the reality is that society as we know it is, in large part at least, only here because of it. As the title of the documentary suggests, Beer, has consistently Saved the World, and not ruin or broken it as negative campaigners would have the world believe.
Below is a documentary on “How Beer Saved The World” on Discovery Channel, enjoy your viewing.