SC - bread to beer

[Mark Harris]

mar-Joshua ibn-Eleazar ha-Shalib said:

(Suddenly I remember a fascinating paper I heard at the ACTA conference
two years ago, pointing out a dramatic shift in England over the course
of the 14th century from using grain for bread to using grain for beer
and ale.  Somebody in the audience asked whether the geographic data
had been correlated with the student populations of Cambridge and
Oxford....)

>>>>>>
This shift most likely, like the shift from grain to sheep, had to do 
with the sudden population drop due to the Black Plague and succeeding
plagues. This meant that suddenly there was surplus of grain available
to turn into ale and beer. Since this also meant a labor shortage, 
switching to sheep raising was done because it was less labor intensive.

So I guess instead of having a bunch of starving peasants at the start
of the century, you had a bunch of drunk shepherds at the end. :-)

Hmmm, Katerine have you seen any other food changes from the first of
the 14th century to the end of it?

Stefan li Rous
markh at risc.sps.mot.com

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