Twins of Human Civilization
Bread and beer are two sides of the same coin, born from the same ingredients: grain, water, and yeast. In the ancient world, beer was literally "liquid bread." Sumerians and Egyptians actually baked specialized loaves of sprouted barley just to crumble them into water and jump-start fermentation. They shared a mutualistic relationship for thousands of years, with bakers relying directly on the leftover yeast from beer brewers to make their dough rise. They are twins of human civilization.
Around 10,000 B.C., humans discovered beer when rain fermented wet barley grains; some anthropologists believe humankind transitioned into farming specifically to grow grains for alcohol
Bread
At Göbekli Tepe, in modern-day Turkey, hunter-gatherers convened regularly throughout the tenth to eighth millennia BCE to feast at booze-centered gatherings. Producing the star liquid ingredient of communal feasts and religious rituals was most likely a motivation for hunter-gatherers to settle. Patterns of alcohol precede agriculture in many parts of the world. In South America, a primitive ancestor of maize called teosinte is the basis for chicha, a beer-like beverage. Similarly, it is possible that the cultivation of tobacco in North and South America inspired the manipulation of other plant species.
This evidence across the globe suggests the desire to get drunk or high gave rise to agriculture. Additionally, the earliest grains were more suitable for brewing than for baking. For example, some wild wheat varieties had chaff or husks stuck to the grains. Such husks enclosed the grains, making them fit for brewing.
​
Figure 1: A Syrian mercenary drinking beer through a straw in Egypt, 1,300 BCE
Source: https://www.gethistories.com/p/a-history-of-ancient-beer
Figure 2: Beer Pouring Ancient Egypt
Source: https://www.gethistories.com/p/a-history-of-ancient-beer