# From "The Hidden History of Beverages" by Alexander Lukashev

## 2. Before Brewing: What Was Chewed for What It Does

Part One (history), chapter 2 of 14 · 3 footnotes to 3 sources
Page: https://herbalmind.bar/history/bark-chewing-before-brewing/

The first evidence of taking a plant for what it does rather than as food — most of it from chimpanzees — and what tree bark contains.

Sections:
- **Bark Chewing** — chimpanzee self-medication with a bitter plant, the criteria that establish it, and the compounds in willow and other barks

Questions this chapter answers:
- Do wild animals medicate themselves, and how can that be proven?
  [The answer is in the book](https://books.apple.com/book/id6756108723)
- Is willow bark the same thing as aspirin?
  Short answer: No: it carries salicin, which the body turns into salicylic acid, so it works like a gentler aspirin rather than being aspirin.
- Which barks are still taken today for their effects?
  [The answer is in the book](https://books.apple.com/book/id6756108723)

Short answers only. The full account, with its sources, is in chapter 2 of the book — https://books.apple.com/book/id6756108723

Sources:
- Huffman, Michael A. and Mohamedi Seifu. “Observations on the Illness and Consumption of a Possibly Medicinal Plant Vernonia amygdalina (Del.), by a Wild Chimpanzee in the Mahale Mountains National Park, Tanzania.” Primates 30, no. 1 (1989): 51–63. [DOI 10.1007/BF02381210](https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02381210).
- Huffman, Michael A. “Self-Medicative Behavior in the African Great Apes: An Evolutionary Perspective into the Origins of Human Traditional Medicine.” BioScience 51, no. 8 (2001): 651–661. [DOI 10.1641/0006-3568(2001)051[0651:SMBITA]2.0.CO;2](https://doi.org/10.1641/0006-3568%282001%29051%5B0651:SMBITA%5D2.0.CO%3B2).
- Weyrich, Laura S., Sebastian Duchene, Julien Soubrier et al. “Neanderthal Behaviour, Diet, and Disease Inferred from Ancient DNA in Dental Calculus.” Nature 544, no. 7650 (2017): 357–361. [DOI 10.1038/nature21674](https://doi.org/10.1038/nature21674).

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These are chapter cards — what each chapter covers, with a few short answers and the book’s free pages — not the chapters themselves.
Apple Books, with a free sample: https://books.apple.com/book/id6756108723
Other stores: https://books2read.com/u/mqlAwO