Thanks. I still don't think that's what's going on here. I don't think the author was attributing any one person with brilliance due to bread or beer, just making the case as to which one really lead the charge to societal evolution. I'd say simply moving from hunter-gatherer to an agrarian society was the biggest factor. Being able to grow and store crops allowed humanity to have more time for other pursuits like education, technology, economics, etc. If we were still tromping around the woods for our next meal every day, there's not much room to ponder anything or even plan for much else but the next empty stomach.

I like Jarod Diamond's Guns Germs and Steel. Just considering what was the biggest factor in holding back the Papua New Guineans from evolving past the stone age we can see that it's the lack of arable land and staple crops. I don't think it's really about bread or bear, but agriculture in general that pushed us to a new level.