A History of the World in 6 Glasses

“[S]haring a drink with someone is a universal symbol of hospitality and friendship. It signals that the person offering the drink can be trusted, by demonstrating that it is not poisoned or otherwise unsuitable for consumption” 

Throughout the book, Standage emphasizes the social role that beverages play. Humans drink not only to maintain life and health, but also to form and maintain social bonds. While competition—for land, resources and wealth—are an integral part of human history, sharing is too, and nowhere is this more obvious than in the sharing of food and drink.

“The Mesopotamians regarded the consumption of bread and beer as one of the things that distinguished them from savages and made them fully human”

What it means to be human is one of the great existential questions and it continues to be posed to this day. For many ancient civilizations, agriculture, and the food and drink that resulted from it, distinguished them from their hunter-gatherer ancestors and thus became a mark of humanity. 

“Toasting someone’s health before drinking beer is a remnant of the ancient belief in beer’s magical properties. And beer’s association with friendly, unpretentious social interaction remains unchanged; it is a beverage meat to be shared. Whether in stone-age villages, Mesopotamian banqueting halls, or modern pubs and bars, beer has brought people together since the dawn of civilization” 

While this book is concerned with how different drinks shaped distinct historical periods, Standage also notes that these beverages, especially beer, offer a sense of continuity across history. The idea that social habits concerning beer remain largely unchanged from the Stone Age to the present suggests the fundamental role that drinks play in our lives and allows us an insight into the distant past.

“During the first millennium BCE, even the beer-loving Mesopotamians turned their backs on beer, which was dethroned as the most cultured and civilized of drinks, and the age of wine began” 

While beer was central to the development of Mesopotamian society, advances in travel and trade allowed the introduction of wine to the upper levels of society. This, in turn, suggests the degree to which cultures are shaped and influenced by each other, even at this early stage in history.

“‘[T]he peoples of the Mediterranean began to emerge from barbarism when they learned to cultivate the olive and the vine’” 

Much like the Mesopotamian belief that beer is what makes us human, this quote from Thucydides, a fifth century Greek writer, suggests that, in Ancient Greece, the idea of civilization was inextricably bound up with agriculture (cultivation) and the foodstuffs it produced, particularly wine. 

“The mixture of water and wine consumed in the symposium provided fertile metaphorical ground for Greek philosophers, who likened it to the mixture of good and bad in human nature, both within an individual and in society at large”

Writing itself emerged from the system of storing and recording surplus grain for beer and bread in Mesopotamia. In Ancient Greece, cultural practices were not merely mundane traditions but provided the basis for their way of thinking, as suggested by this quote. Wine was so important in Greece—both as a drink and as a commodity—that it made sense to consider Greek society in terms of wine.

“So fine was the calibration of wine with status that drinkers at a Roman banquet, or convivium, would be served different wines depending on their positions in society” 

Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece shared many things in common, including wine, but wine drinking was also one of the things that distinguished these two cultures from each other. In both civilizations, the quality of wine a person drank reflected their social status. However, the Romans took this much further than the Greeks, whose symposia involved the sharing of communal wine among aristocratic men. Roman banquets, on the other hand, developed the use of wine as a tool of social class and used it to signal people’s place and their relationship to one another. This behavior extended beyond wine, and those at the bottom of the social ladder might also be “the butt of the other guest’s jokes” (78).

“The Greek and Roman wine gods, like Christ, were associated with wine-making miracles and resurrection after death; their worshippers, like Christians, regarded wine drinking as a form of sacred communion” 

This quote suggests the mutability of cultural practices. While Christianity differed fundamentally in many respects from the religious beliefs of Ancient Greece and Rome, its growth in the Mediterranean region might have something to do with the fact that wine played a similar role in its rituals. The symbolic significance of wine in Christian rituals might have made its message easier to share—and understand. This, in turn, suggests that religions and cultures are not hermetic but overlapping.

“With the rise of Islam, power shifted away from the peoples of the Mediterranean coast and towards the desert tribes of Arabia. These tribes expressed their superiority over the previous elites by replacing wheeled vehicles with camels, chairs and tables with cushions, and by banning the consumption of wine, that most potent symbol of sophistication. In doing so, Muslims signaled their rejection of the old notions of civilization” 

Just as beer and wine became symbols of humanity and civilization and humanity for the Mesopotamians and the Ancient Greeks, so the Muslim rejection of alcohol allowed Arabic peoples to express their own distinct identity. This once again suggests the key role played by drinks and social rituals around drinks in establishing cultural identities.

“Knowledge of distillation was one of many aspects of the ancient wisdom that was preserved and extended by Arab scholars and, having been translated from Arabic to Latin, helped to rekindle the spirit of learning in Western Europe” 

This quote provides an interesting perspective on European history, which often moves quickly from the glory of the Ancient Greeks and the Roman Empire to the Crusades. Here Standage acknowledges the great debt that Europe owes to the Arab world and the long history of communication and exchange between Europe and Arabia. 

“[Rum’s} immediate significance was as a currency, for it closed the triangle linking spirits, slaves, and sugar. Rum could be used to buy slaves, with which to produce sugar, the leftovers of which could be made into rum to buy more slaves, and so on and on” 

The Age of Exploration is often celebrated as a triumph if European ingenuity and daring, with little consideration for the destructive and devastating consequences for the indigenous peoples of those places the Europeans “discovered” or for the millions of Africans who were enslaved. In this quotation, Standage points to the triangular relationship between spirits, slaves, and sugar that underpinned this phase of European colonial expansion. Unlike beer and wine, which became markers of people’s humanity and sophistication, rum played a part in the dehumanization of millions of people. 

“[W]hile both the rebellion and the excise failed, the suppression of the Whiskey Rebellion, the first tax protest to take place since independence, forcefully illustrated that federal law could not be ignored, and was a defining moment in the early history of the United States” 

Here, Standage considers the significance of hard liquor to American domestic politics. While similar rebellions against British taxation eventually led to American independence, in this instance the failed rebellion assured the new nation’s federal identity. Interestingly, national attitudes to alcohol, expressed in the imposition of prohibition would later contribute to the invention of Coca-Cola, another defining moment in American history.

“Distilled drinks, alongside firearms and infectious diseases, helped to shape the modern world by helping the inhabitants of the Old World to establish themselves as rulers of the New World”

Standage’s language in this quotation—particularly the phrases Old World and New World—suggest the degree to which his book relies on existing historical narratives, from a new angle. Despite his attempt to acknowledge the darker sides of colonialism, he perpetuates a Eurocentric version of history in which the Americas and the Caribbean are designated the “New World” because they were new to Europeans. This tendency is reflected in his choice of dinks too, which allow him to discuss the major developments in European history—including the achievements of Ancient Greece and Rome—and which results in a familiar narrative of Western imperialism culminating in the rise of America in the twentieth century.

“During this Age of Reason, Western thinkers moved beyond the wisdom of the ancients and opened themselves to new ideas, pushing out the frontiers of knowledge beyond Old-World limits in an intellectual counterpoint to the geographic expansion of the Age of Exploration” 

While the book is split into six different sections, ostensibly dealing with six different time periods, this quotations also points to the fact that many of these periods overlapped or were coincident with each other. The idea of simultaneity challenges the kind of linear thinking that characterizes narrative history and points to the fact that history is much more complex to be reduced to a single set or parameters, or defined by a single drink. 

“Coffeehouse discussions both molded and reflected public opinion, forming a unique bridge between the public and private worlds” 

In his section on coffee, Standage argues that coffeehouses, rather than coffee itself, had the greatest impact on human history. In part, this was a result of their position as establishments where men of all classes and walks of life could meet, converse and exchange ideas. This temporary suspension of class boundaries is perhaps what Standage means when he says that coffeehouses “bridged” the public and private spheres. Men of different classes might have met in public places such as the street, but they would have been constrained by their respective social positions. In a coffeehouse, however, these men were free to act as if they were together in a private house, one that was accessible to all—except women. This freedom contributed to the stimulating intellectual atmosphere that made coffeehouses so popular.

“Within a coffeehouse, the egalitarian society to which Enlightenment thinkers aspired might, on the surface, appear to have been brought to life” 

While coffeehouses might have provided the perfect atmosphere in which to discuss the latest ideas, literature and scientific advances, the social advances they dreamed of were harder to put into practice. Indeed, the fact that women were not allowed into coffeehouses in England, suggests some of the limitations of Enlightenment ideals. 

“With its associated drinking rituals of genteel afternoon tea and the worker’s tea break, tea perfectly matched Britain’s self-image as a civilizing, industrious power” 

This quotation suggests the duality of the British self- image: both genteel—and therefore not involved in labor—and industrious to the point that conquering other lands, their people and resources was justified if it contributed to British industry. While coffeehouses had temporarily provided some respite for the deep class divisions echoed in this duality, tea drinking seems to have reinforced them. 

“At its height, tea represented more than 60 percent of the [British East India] company’s total trade, and the duty on tea accounted for around 10 percent of British government revenue. As a result, control of the tea trade granted the company an enormous degree of political influence and enabled it to have laws passed in its favor” 

Here Standage points to the significant connections between economics and politics that have been suggested throughout the book. As was the case with rum, the profits from tea enabled British colonial expansion, this time in Asia, but that expansion was not driven by the British government alone. Instead, companies like the British East India Company had a vested interest in the extension of imperial control, which would, in turn, give them access to new products ad new markets.

“Factory workers had to function like parts in a well oiled machine, and tea was the lubricant that kept the factories running smoothly” 

While the section on tea outlines the many benefits that tea had for British workers—including the reduction of water-borne diseases—this quotation suggests that the introduction of tea breaks was not purely philanthropic; instead these breaks were designed to extract the maximum amount of labor from factory workers as possible. 

“The rise of America, and the globalization of war, politics, trade, and communications during the twentieth century, are mirrored by the rise of Coca-Cola, the world’s most valuable and widely-recognized brand, which is universally regarded as the embodiment of America and its values” 

Coca-Cola is the only branded—rather than generic—drink discussed in the book. In the sense that the final section is primarily concerned with America’s rise as a superpower, it is a fitting choice; however, the focus can seem a little constricting at times. Also, Standage’s claim that Coca-Cola is “universally” regarded as emblematic of America and American values seems somewhat hyperbolic. 

“For those who objected to America’s growing clout, and who regarded the Marshall plan as imperialism by other means, Coca-Cola provided an obvious target for their anger” 

As suggested by earlier chapters in the book, regional and national identities are often defined and distinguished by what and how they drink. Opposition to Coca-Cola, as well as to America’s political influence, can thus be read as anxiety about the dissolution or erasure of those identities in a global marketplace dominated by one nation or one drink. 

“It is not Coca-Cola that makes people, wealthier, happier, or freer, of course, but as consumerism and democracy spread, the fizzy brown drink is never far behind” 

Here, Standage equates democracy—understood as political freedom—with consumerism. This is a troubling association, especially given that critics have pointed to a lack of political engagement that often accompanies increased consumerism and materialistic values. Furthermore, the global expansion of Coca-Cola is, as Standage has argued, deeply connected to American foreign policy and it can hardly be said that such policy is entirely benevolent. 

“Water is a limited natural resource and a public good fundamental for life and health. The human right to water is indispensable for leading a healthy life in human dignity. It is a prerequisite for the realization of other human rights” 

This quotation from the United Nations Committee on Economic, Cultural, and Social Rights highlights the significance of water to human life. The committee not only considers water essential to human life, in a biological sense, but also to human dignity and all other human rights. The interest of this committee in the issue points to the economic, cultural and social aspects of water access today.