A01=Patrick E. McGovern
agrarian society
alcohol history
alcoholic beverages
anthropology
archaeology
Author_Patrick E. McGovern
cacao
Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=NL-WB
Category=WBXD
coffee table book
COP=United States
corn beer
creation of alcohol
eq_bestseller
eq_food-drink
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
evolution
fermented beverages
fermenting
food and sociology
food and wine
food history
Format=BC
gastronomy
history of alcohol
HMM=229
human condition
IMPN=University of California Press
ISBN13=9780520267985
liquid courage
mead
millet
modern world
PA=Available
PD=20110118
POP=Berkerley
Price=25.5
provocative hypothesis
PS=Active
PUB=University of California Press
religious symbol
rice wine
role of alcohol in society
search for booze
social lubricant
sorghum
spirits
Subject=Cookery / Food & Drink Etc
WG=499
WMM=152
Product details
- ISBN 9780520267985
- Weight: 499g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 30 Oct 2009
- Publisher: University of California Press
- Publication City/Country: Berkerley, US
- Product Form: Paperback
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
In a lively tour around the world and through the millennia, "Uncorking the Past" tells the compelling story of humanity's ingenious, intoxicating quest for the perfect drink. Following a tantalizing trail of archaeological, chemical, artistic, and textual clues, Patrick E. McGovern, the leading authority on ancient alcoholic beverages, brings us up to date on what we now know about how humans created and enjoyed fermented beverages across cultures. Along the way, he explores a provocative hypothesis about the integral role such libations have played in human evolution. We discover, for example, that the cereal staples of the modern world were probably domesticated for their potential in making quantities of alcoholic beverages. These include the delectable rice wines of China and Japan, the corn beers of the Americas, and the millet and sorghum drinks of Africa. Humans also learned how to make mead from honey and wine from exotic fruits of all kinds - even from the sweet pulp of the cacao (chocolate) fruit in the New World.
The perfect drink, it turns out - whether it be mind-altering, medicinal, a religious symbol, a social lubricant, or artistic inspiration - has not only been a profound force in history, but may be fundamental to the human condition itself.
Patrick E. McGovern is Scientific Director of the Biomolecular Archaeology Laboratory for Cuisine, Fermented Beverages, and Health at the University of Pennsylvania Museum. His books include Ancient Wine: The Search for the Origins of Viniculture, the 2004 Grand Prize winner in History, Literature, and Fine Arts, Organisation Internationale de la Vigne et du Vin. McGovern's research on the origins of alcoholic beverages has been featured in Time, The New York Times, The New Yorker, Nature, and elsewhere.
