Placebrewing

A recent story (part 1 | part 2) by Dave Roberts at Grist, he has examined how food across the country has, in general, become boring, monotonous, and potentially dangerous as it has been supplied by a few large companies. His bigger goal is to detail what makes places great and to give us an idea of what we should be focusing on to make places better. In this recent section he uses food to lay out a plan for improving places: saying great food is an important part of great places. As an example of one 'food' that has overcome the domination and homogenization of large corporate domination is beer.


As recently as 1980, fewer than 50 gigantic brew facilities produced all of the beer consumed in the United States. Nearly all of it was horrible. Lovers of good beer were relegated to the tiny import section of the beer case, or to making their own. Today, there are more than 1,700 breweries in operation -- we've returned to the pre-Prohibition peak (granted, when the U.S. population was much smaller).

Roberts says the beer's example can teach us about the importance of regionality and economic diversity, not to mention how beer helps bring people together in public spots.