Iran, the origin of beer?

Did you know this cool thing? I was listening to one of the previous feeds of "This week of in Science" via their podcast feed. This is a truly nice show and they are doing just great. Anyway, that story about the origin of beer I heard from them is funny! They say Iran is known to be home for the first known evidence of human made beer! Being in a country that was the origin of sth and yet that thing is banned is also kind of funny! what a world.

Comments

[KL]

I couldn't find the article, but I'm guessing from your writing that beer originated from Iran :). Am I right?

Mr. Behi,
I have a theory that may interest you:
Beer did, indeed, begin in the middle east, at nearly the same location and the same time as the beginning of "civilization", or whenever man decided to stop wandering and settle down. The "official" theory is that man began farming, and then discovered that he could create malt from the barley, and from that create beer. I believe Man created Beer, and settled down onto a farm to help facilitate the brewing process. You can't very well be a hunter-gatherer if you are carrying around a crock of beer with you.
So, by my logic, Beer is the mother of Civilization. I'll hoist one in your honor tonight, as you cannot join me.
Hawkpilot
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Mr.Behi says: WOW! man thanks. It would be an hounor of mine. I would say. I hope I can get the US visa and then we will see :-) Thanks for what you did. Do it for my US visa. cheers.

[Hartley]

Mr. Behi,

I heard it the other way around - that beer was the magic that allowed man to stop being a hunter-gatherer and settle down.. Supposedly, then, as now, drinking water could be hazardous - expecially water around areas where man lived for any length of time. Nasty things like hepatitus and all sorts of intestinal parasites made it difficult for settlements to become established.
But when beer was invented, it became possible to store liquid for long periods without fear of disease - so it was indeed beer that created the first civilizations, not the other way 'round..

Fascinating stufff - and if memory serves, the article I read (some years ago in Scientific American) was written by an Iranian Scientist.

Hartley

p.s. I have read a number of your posts and I want to encourage you to keep on posting - while Goverments may argue and fight, only by reading the thoughts, fears and hopes of people in other lands can we really begin to realize that we are indeed all "fellow travellers".

[Don Chmelka]

I began researching my family history in 1997 and learned that my Czech name, "Chmelka", literally translates to English as "Hops man." I also learned that hops likely originated in today's Iraq where it supposedly still grows in the wild. I ended up writing a creative-nonfiction book entitled "Matej's Journey to America" that begins with the first Chmelka growing hops in Iraq. This hops growing family eventually immigrated to todays Czech Republic and then in 1871, my great-great-grandfather, Matej Chmelka, immigated to Nebraska.

[Dillon]

Which podcast was it?