Food and drink prohibitions Bahá'í Faith, and various branches of Christianity such as the Baptists, the Church of God In Christ, Methodists, the Latter-day Saints, Seventh-day Adventists and the Iglesia ni Cristo – forbid or discourage the consumption of alcoholic beverages. The Hebrew Bible describes a Nazirite vow (Numbers 6:1-21) that includes abstinence from alcohol, specifically wine and probably barley beer (according to the Septuagint translation and the Bauer lexicon: "σικερα", from the Akkadian shikaru, for "barley beer)". The New JPS translation is: "wine and any other intoxicant". Other versions such as the NIV prohibit both alcohol and all alcohol derived products such as
Barley The preparatory "kykeon" or mixed drink of the initiates, prepared from barley and herbs, referred in the Homeric hymn to Demeter, whose name some scholars believe meant "Barley-mother". The practice was to dry the barley groats and roast them before preparing the porridge, according to Pliny the Elder's "Natural History" (xviii.72). This produces malt that soon ferments and becomes slightly alcoholic. Pliny also noted barley was a special food of gladiators known as "hordearii", "barley-eaters". However, by Roman times, he added that wheat had replaced barley as a staple. Tibetan barley has been a staple food in Tibetan cuisine since