You've got to get up pretty early in the morning to compete in the cutthroat fast-food market.

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Cacao beans are now ground for cocoa, but the plant had a more spirited use thousands of years ago when Hondurans fermented it for alcohol, archaeologists say.

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Residue scraped from pottery vessels dating from 1400 B.C. to 1100 B.C. indicate Ulua Valley residents fermented the chocolate plant's sweet pulp to make an alcoholic drink before they began grinding the bitter seeds, mixing them with honey and chiles to produce the equivalent of modern cocoa, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday.

The consumption of fermented cacao plants is much more recent than the production of wine and beer, which date back to about 5400 B.C. in Iran and around 7000 B.C. in China.

The chocolate drink, which had an alcoholic content of about 5 percent, had a role in feasting, entertaining and binding groups together, said archaeologist John Henderson of Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., who led the team reporting its findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Nagoya, Japan -- The first shipment of the year of Beaujolais Nouveau arrived in Japan this week, with customs officials in the Aichi Prefecture inspecting the wine shipment.

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Nearly 700,000 cases of Beaujolais Nouveau are expected to be imported into Japan this year from France, with the recent shipment scheduled to go up for sale next week, the Kyodo news service said Saturday.

Distributor Asahi Breweries Ltd. said that prediction would mark a 20 percent drop in the amount of the fruity wine imported into Japan in comparison to last year.

The brewery group also said this year's product is especially fruity and light, due in part to the good weather France enjoyed in August and September.
The annual launch of the wine, which comes from France's Beaujolais region, is typically seen as an indicator of the year's harvest.

When we think of inflation, we often think these days of how gas prices have risen just a bit in recent years. It's important to keep gasoline in mind, because those who report inflation numbers often don't. As I explained in a previous article, those looking at so-called core inflation levels are ignoring food and fuel prices, which are conveniently left out of the calculation.

PANTELLERIA, Italy -- An ancient Italian wine made from grapes grown on the steep slopes of a single island could be dying out because of the hard work involved.

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Passito di Pantelleria, a sweet golden wine, has origins wrapped in myth and history. By one account the wine was first made by Magone, a top lieutenant of the Carthaginian leader Hannibal who attacked Rome in the third century B.C. In another version, a goddess, Tanit, used it to woo the Greek god Apollo.

But the grape harvest on Pantelleria has fallen precipitously, to 2,500 tons this year, The Telegraph reported. In 1990, 24,000 tons were harvested -- down from 45,000 tons in 1973.

Pantelleria, south of Sicily, is so remote it was used in Roman times as an open prison for banished members of the emperor's family. Its volcanic slopes

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands -- Dutch brewing company Heineken International is test-marketing in the Netherlands a new sparkling cider and malt drink for women called Charli.

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The concoction, with 5 percent alcohol, is "the perfect alternative to beer and wine," the 143-year-old Amsterdam brewery said.

Charli's taste is made for people who don't like beer and don't entirely trust the quality of wine, said Heineken, the world's fourth-largest brewery.

The company founded by Gerard Adriaan Heineken in 1864 is test-marketing the drink in cafes in the Dutch capital and in Deventer, 70 miles east of Amsterdam, through Oct. 17, the company said.

Heineken hopes to introduce Charli across the Netherlands next summer, the Dutch news agency Algemeen Nederlands Persbureau reported.

Moscow -- Russian vodka is likely to surge 30 percent by year-end after government alcohol-production controls go into effect, an alcohol trade group said Wednesday.

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"Our forecast is that the alcohol price will surge to $2.75 a liter, i.e. 30 percent, by the year-end," National Alcohol Association President Pavel Shapkin said.

The surge in vodka prices could be even higher around New Year's Day, when demand and prices normally rise, the Russian business daily Kommersant said.

London -- Britain's Premier Travel Inn announced Wednesday its first breakfast eating competition was won by a man who ate five and a half cooked breakfasts.

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Lup Fan Yau downed the equivalent of five fried eggs, five slices of bacon, six sausages, six croissants and 18 mushrooms in 12 minutes and 35 seconds to take home the top prize. Each breakfast contained 610 calories, making Yau's total more than 3,100.

Edinburgh, Scotland -- After six years of lobbying by the United States and others, India is slashing its liquor import tax, seen as a boon for Scotch whiskey.

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India is doing away with its Additional Customs Duty operation that slaps an extra tax on foreign wine, beer and spirits, the Scotsman reported.

Introduced in 2001, the ACD subjected imported alcohol to duties of between 250 and 550 per cent.

New York -- The Health Department says more than 80 percent of New York City restaurants are now trans-fat free.

Facing a Sunday deadline, most restaurants have eliminated artificial trans fat in oils used for frying, a health department survey said Friday.

The report said 83 percent of restaurants were not using artificial trans fat for frying as of June 1.