Bread and alcohol
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Corresponding Wikipedia articles: Bread, Alcoholic beverage
Legumes | Cereals (grasses) | |
---|---|---|
Protein content | 20-30% with a set of the amino acids comparable to a protein of meat and fish | 10-15% with a limited set of the amino acids |
Carbohydrate content | 30-55% | 60-70% |
Presence of the vitamin C | almost every type | corn and the sprouted grains |
Calcium content | 1,0-3,5 g/kg | 0,5-1,0 g/kg |
Iron content | 90-120 mg/kg | 30-50 mg/kg |
Processing | easy extraction from the pods | difficult production of the grains and the flour |
The preference is given to the cereals for a long time despite all obvious benefits of the legumes. The cereals have only one advantage: a high content of the carbohydrates at the expense of proteins. The most part of the cereal carbohydrates is a starch, a taseless product, which is perfectly suited as a feedstock for the pure ethanol. The cereals are used for the mass production of the cheap alcohol beverages instead of a wine and a cognac, because they contain a minimum of the unnecessary substances.
Cereal | Origin | Beverage |
---|---|---|
barley | ? | beer, malt whisky |
rye | ? | whisky, vodka |
wheat | Ethiopia, India | |
corn | Mexico | american whiskey |
sugarcane | tropics | rum |
rice | tropics, subtropics | rice wine (sake) |
millet | India, China | baijiu |
bamboo | tropics, subtropics | bambooze |
Lentil, pea, beans, soybean etc. were gradually replaced by the cereal crops to simplify the agriculture and to provide food and drink for the mass of people. The legumes were one of the basic food in the ancient times:
Crop | Area | Mythology |
---|---|---|
lentil | southwestern Eurasia | “Mess of pottage” in exchange for the birthright (Genesis 25:29-34) sickens |
pea | northern Eurasia | Russian "Tsar Pea" (the time when there were no kings, no bread and no alcohol) |
soybean | China | soybeans appeared along with the first emperors |
phaseolus | Southern America |
The boiled barley, rye and wheat are unsuitable for food, although the barley porridge is quite edible. Thus, the bread became a basic food for the peoples of the north-western Eurasia, where the rice and the millet are not the major crops. The bread is a product with a complicated technology, which requires some professional activities: production of the flour of the various degrees of purity; making of the dough with the various additives; baking in some device. Whole this job with associated mills, bakeries, etc. produces a product with a relatively low content of the proteins, vitamins and minerals. The white (wheat) bread is most harmful for the health.
The yeasts are the fungi for an alcoholic fermentation, which naturally occur on the grape berries. The alcoholic fermentation is used also for the dough, which fills the bread with nothing but the air.
The bread has a sacred significance in Judaism and Christianity:
- The first Old Testament reference to the bread is associated with Abraham (Genesis 18:6).
- Matzo (unleavened bread) is a cake for the Pesach (Passover).
- Heavenly Manna is an analogue of the semolina (coarse wheat flour).
- Our Daily Bread is a catchphrase from Gospel.
- Bread and wine are related to the Eucharist.
Bread and alcohol is a religious food of the Christians and their modern descendants.
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