Give Us Two Straws, Barkeep--This is a Date Beer

According to Archeology Magazine, the ancient Sumerian recipe for making beer calls for barley malt, bappir (unleavened barley biscuits) and gestin (date juice). You don’t have to filter out the barley hulls--the Sumerians didn’t always, which is why 4,000 years ago they often drank their beer through golden straws. San Francisco’s Anchor Steam Brewery followed these directions earlier this year, and when aged seven months, the Sumerian beer was described as tasting like hard cider with a fragrance of dates.

The Buffalo Roam

Buffalo is low in fat and cholesterol, high in iron and B vitamins: “the meat of the ‘90s,” thinks the Denver Buffalo Co. of Englewood, Colo. DBC has big plans for it--besides marketing buffalo chili, jerky, steaks and sausages (including Buff Dogs frankfurters), it envisions a chain of buffalo restaurants, both here and in Japan.

At Last: Ribs Meet Roulette

Late next year, Peter Morton, president of 11 high-decibel Hard Rock Cafes, will open a Hard Rock Hotel and Gambling Casino in Las Vegas.

Don’t Quota Me on This

Because of trade restrictions, Japanese beef is six times the world price, but Japanese steak lovers will get a break next April when their nation’s beef quotas end. However, the rice quotas will stay, and Japanese rice will still cost six times the world price. (P.S.: For some reason, rice consumption is on the decline in Japan.)

Hypaz That Henfruit

Bon Dente International of Lynden, Wash. has developed what it calls hyperpasteurization--a way of treating eggs without heat to kill salmonella bacteria. The process hasn’t gotten approval from government regulatory agencies yet, but we approve the fully excellent suggested abbreviation--”hypaz.”

The Chips Fly

Continental Airlines boasts that during summer--but only in first class--you can get fresh chocolate chip cookies baked on the plane.

Breakfast Champions

The mills may be running out of new cereal ideas at last--they seem to be imitating each other now. General Mills makes Triples (rather like Kellogg’s Rice Krispies) and a frosted version of Wheaties (eerily similar to Sugar Frosted Flakes), and the uninitiated might confuse Kellogg’s Honey Nut Cheerios with General Mills’ Honey Nut Loops.