When the white god Viracocha mysteriously appeared in South America, he taught the people he met all the “arts of civilization”: astronomy, geometry, agriculture and architecture. He also taught them how to make wine from honey. When he left them, they slowly returned to their huts and gradually forgot most of what they’d learned. But to this day they still brew an alcoholic beverage called balche, based on the same recipe Viracocha taught their ancestors millennia ago. And who can blame them. I mean, those other arts are great and all, but what are they compared to a well-prepared gourd of honey wine?

# posted by Gerry Canavan @ 11:18 AM  |