MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA, PRECOLUMBIAN

MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA, PRECOLUMBIAN. When the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés set foot on the beach in the Mexican state of Veracruz, he encountered advanced cultures whose existence had not been previously suspected. The great Aztec empire, ruled by a people called the Mexica, had conquered much of the region, establishing a city of grand temples and causeways called Tenochtitlán, while the rainforest cities of the Maya were slowly returning to the jungle after being abandoned several centuries earlier. Cultures including the Totonac, Tlaxcalans, and Zapotec also met the Spanish at this time, some as friends, others as enemies. All, however, impressed many of the Spanish with their cities, governments, markets, and material goods that rivaled those of the Old World. The food and cuisine of these cultures of present-day Mexico and Central America, an area termed by anthropologists and archaeologists as Mesoamerica, are the subject of discussion here.

While these cultures lived in different areas, had different forms of social and political organization, and spoke a variety of languages, there were certain shared traits, including an intricate calendrical system, hieroglyphic writing, and a distinct architectural style. These cultures all made use of corn, beans, squash, chili peppers, chocolate, and domesticated dogs and turkeys. Despite some differences in preparation and availability of ingredients, many of the dishes and their style of preparation in these varied cultures were very similar.

Evidence for Pre-Columbian Cuisine

How do we know what and how ancient people ate? Fortunately Mesoamerica provides several lines of evidence. The documents written by the early Spanish conquistadors offer invaluable insight into the customs of early Mesoamerican civilizations. Many priests and nobility accompanied the explorations of Columbus and Cortés and learned and recorded the language, customs, and beliefs of the indigenous cultures. These documents reveal methods and techniques of food preparation, farming techniques, and available ingredients.

Archaeology provides a second line of evidence for reconstructing the foodways of these cultures. Whereas the colonial documents record what the Spanish witnessed or were told by their informants, archaeology, and the subdisciplines of paleoethnobotany and zooarchaeology, provide material evidence invisible in the ethnohistoric record. The Spanish did not often take note of foods eaten by the commoners, and without modern scientific nomenclature, it is sometimes difficult to determine exactly what plant or animal the Spanish were talking about. Archaeology often helps to clarify these problems.

The translation and interpretation of the writing and iconography of codices, the term for pre-Columbian and early Colonial books, pottery, and other works of private and public art, also provide evidence for pre-Columbian food use. Decipherment of Mayan hieroglyphs on ceramic vessels, for example, gives new insight into their use, and lists of tribute items demanded by the Mexica of their dependents show us what food items were kept in their central storehouses.

Grains

All cultures utilize a staple food around which the rest of their cuisine is based; in Europe and the Middle East it is wheat, and in the Far East, rice. In Mesoamerica, the staple undoubtedly was corn, or maize (Zea mays). And not only was maize the primary foodstuff, forming the basis of virtually all meals, it had spiritual and religious significance as well. From birth, when the umbilical cord would be cut over a maize cob, to death, when a small piece of maize dough was placed in the mouth of the deceased, maize played a central role in the cultures of Mesoamerica. According to the Popol Vuh, the "bible" of the Maya, humans are not made of earth but rather were formed from maize dough.

Maize was prepared in a variety of ways, depending on the time of year, the race of maize, and the particular meal. For the most part, however, maize was prepared by a process called nixtamalization. The ripe maize grains were first soaked and then boiled in water mixed with burned and ground limestone or ash. After boiling, the maize kernels were ground to varying degrees on a metate, a flat grinding stone, and this resulting dough was used in all manner of preparations. The boiling in lime or ash makes the maize easier to grind, as well as creating a chemical reaction that makes it much more nutritious. Combined with beans, another important Mesoamerican crop, nixtamalization provided an almost complete nutritional package.

Once processed, maize was prepared either as a solid breadstuff or as a beverage. The term "beverage" is helpful for describing certain dishes, but these preparations could easily be called a gruel, porridge, or even a stew, especially with the addition of different foods. Maize dough was also soured by being stored in containers or wrapped in leaves used just for that purpose, much like sourdough bread.

Atolli is the Nahuatl term for a beverage made from the most finely ground maize dough mixed with water. Whole maize kernels, beans, chili pepper, marigold leaves, toasted squash seeds, and even boiled and mashed root crops, especially sweet potato, were stirred into the beverage, creating more of a stew or soup. Honey or, in the Mexica and Zapotec areas, maguey syrup, could be added for sweetness. Elite and commoner alike consumed atolli, although the finest, bone-white maize was reserved for the nobility, as was the addition of cacao seeds. It was generally drunk in the mornings, although it could complement a meal at any time of day.

Tortillas and tamales formed the basis of the solid breadstuffs. Tortillas are cakes of maize dough flattened to varying degrees of thickness and cooked on a ceramic griddle called a comal, on a hot stone, or simply over the hot ashes of a fire. Comales are frequently found in archaeological deposits throughout central Mexico, attesting to the importance of the tortilla in the daily diet, and Spanish documents mention that many women were brought along on long journeys or during warfare to grind corn and prepare tortillas. Tortillas were generally paired with a sauce or casserole of spices, herbs, and vegetables and served both as food and as a utensil to transport the food to the mouth. There were different grades of tortillas, from paper-thin, pure white tortillas enjoyed by the elite, to thick and heavy tortillas for everyday consumption or for long journeys.

The presence of the tortilla among the Maya is less definite. We find few comales in the Mayan area, leading some to suggest that the tortilla was less important and tamales more prevalent. Tamales are thick maize dough, mixed with a vast array of foods—beans, chilis, eggs, meat, fish, and mushrooms were all incorporated into tamale dough—wrapped in leaves or corn husks, and steamed or baked in a fire. Mayan iconography also shows plates with round balls that resemble tamales, rather than flat cakes indicative of tortillas.

A fermented beverage called balché was made from maize and flavored with different fruits and spices. Fermented beverages were quite common in the New World (except for areas north of Mexico), and quite intoxicating as well. The Maya drank balché for the most part, whereas the drink in the more arid regions was called pulque and was fermented from the sap of the maguey, or agave. These fermented beverages were mostly used for rituals, and public drunkenness was especially frowned upon in the Aztec empire, being punishable by death.

Maize was not the only grain utilized by Mesoamerican cultures. Amaranth, a seed crop of the genusAmaranthus, was brought under cultivation throughout central Mexico and was one of the four primary tribute items demanded by the Mexica along with maize, beans, and chia, a relative of sage. Called huautli in Nahuatl, amaranth was prepared in a similar manner to maize, ground into flour for tortillas, tamales, and atolli. Amaranth was also popped like popcorn and ground into a lighter flour, or incorporated into regular maize dough. It was prized as a gourmet food, and the nobility enjoyed specially prepared tamales and tortillas of amaranth, as well as a sauce from the highly nutritious greens.

But the most important use of amaranth was in religious rituals. Popped amaranth flour tamales and a mixture of popped amaranth and sweet maguey syrup, called tzoali, were offered to certain deities. The contemporary descendents of tzoali are the Mexican treats alegrías, popped amaranth bound with molasses, which can be found throughout Mexico City. Of special importance to the Mexica were the seeds of bright red amaranth, whose color resembled blood, the most sacred of human substances. This special ritual role of amaranth, and the desire of the Spanish to eliminate any evidence of indigenous religion, may have led to its sudden disappearance from the modern diet.

Vegetables and Fruits

The staple foods of maize and amaranth were supplemented in the daily diet by a diverse array of vegetables and fruits. Beans, although not technically a vegetable, were perhaps the most extensively cultivated crop outside of maize and amaranth. The New World beans all belong to the same genus, Phaseolus, and are represented by the modern-day varieties navy, wax, lima, pinto, kidney, and black, although many more were cultivated in pre-Columbian times.

Beans were not harvested green but were picked and stored dry. They were prepared generally by boiling, often with the addition of epazote, a flavorful herb that is said to reduce gassiness. The boiled beans were mashed and added to maize dough for tortillas or tamales, or made into a stew. Quite often, however, they were simply boiled in plain water, flavored with a little chili, and scooped into the mouth with tortillas.

Different types of squashes (Lagenaria and Cucurbita spp.) complemented the Mesoamerican diet in a number of ways. The cleaned and dried shells were often used as serving vessels and eating utensils. Toasted and ground, their seeds were added to tamales and tortillas, used as a flavoring for various sauces, used as a relish, or even mixed with ground beans to make a drink. The flesh was used to a lesser extent, often roasted or stewed in honey. And as is the fashion with many Mesoamerican crops, all parts of the plant were used, with the flower blossoms added to soups and stews and the greens used as wrappings for tamales or meat dishes.

A great many other vegetables were utilized by Mesoamerican cultures, including tomatoes, tomatillos, many types of greens, and a variety of root crops, such as sweet potato, manioc, and jicama. These were all commonly used in the sauces and casseroles that formed the primary part of a meal along with tortillas and tamales. Root crops have been the subject of debate in Mesoamerican archaeology. Some see their role in the diet as relatively minor, whereas others stress their importance beyond what is indicated in the ethnohistoric record. Little mention is made of them by the Spanish, yet records of explorations in the Mayan area mention large fields of root crops, interspersed with other cultigens.

Although technically a fruit, avocado (Persea americana) generally played the role of a vegetable. It could be eaten simply sliced and wrapped in a tortilla, added to soups, or prepared as a relish, similar to guacamole. Also eaten were the cactus pads and fruits of a variety of cactus, primarily Opuntia sp., as well as different parts of the succulent agave (Agave sp.), also known as maguey. Fruits, and especially fruit trees, play a major role in Mesoamerican cuisine, although their methods of preparation were fairly simple. Commonly known and frequently used New World cultigens include pineapple, papaya, and passion fruit, while lesser-known fruits such as chico zapote (Manilkara zapota), the various species of Annona including soursop and cherimoya, and hog plum (Spondias mombin) were also eaten. When not eaten plain, fruits were often made into intoxicating beverages used in ceremonies and rituals. The fruit tree orchards held special significance to the Maya, and when the Spanish forced them to cut them down, in large part because of the excessive drinking and intoxication from fruit beers, the Maya were devastated. Orchards were not simply locations for harvesting fruit, but were sacred sites passed down and maintained through generations.

Spices, Herbs, and Specialty Items

Fundamental to Mesoamerican cuisines is the chili pepper (Capsicum sp.) perhaps second in importance only to maize. It acquired the name "pepper" as it was the closest to black pepper (Piper nigrum) that Columbus could find in the New World, although it is not very similar at all. However, as an all-purpose spice to flavor nearly all concoctions, it fulfilled the role of black pepper quite well. It was sprinkled over sauces, ground into maize dough, and boiled with beans, providing taste as well as great quantities of vitamins A and C. Its importance is evident in the ritual fasting of the Aztec priests, who considered a "fast" an abstinence from salt and chili, as well as meat.

Chilies were also used in nonculinary fashion. Children were punished by being held over chili smoke, and during warfare, calabashes (squash shells) with coals and chilies were thrown at the enemy to create a pungent smoke.

No discussion of Mesoamerican cuisine can proceed without mentioning chocolate, or cacao (Theobroma cacao). Primarily used by the elite, cacao was prepared as a beverage and was served as the last course of a meal. Cacao beans were prepared by being fermented, cured, roasted, and then ground into a powder, which was added to hot water and frothed. The Aztec would create a foamy head to the drink by using a spoon or a special utensil, whereas we see from some Mayan iconography that they would pour the cacao from one vessel to another to make the foam. Creating this foam was integral to the preparation of cacao, and to be served a drink without it was a grave insult.

An innumerable array of additions flavored these cacao drinks. Honey or maguey syrup was added for sweetness, maize dough could be added to thicken the drink, and herbs, spices, and flowers provided different tastes and flavors. The Aztec and Maya frequently mixed in vanilla, the seedpod of an orchid grown on the Gulf Coast, and achiote (Bixa orellana), although the latter was more to impart a deep red color than for taste. Achiote, the seed of a small tree, was actually used to tint many things, including human skin.

Countless flowers also flavored cacao drinks. Marigold (Tagetes lucida), Cymbopetalum penduliflorum, and Quararibea funebris were all added to the cacao drink, each flower providing a different taste, ranging from cinnamon to black pepper to ripe melon. Some flowers were added to the finished beverage, whereas others were closed in a sealed container with the dried beans to impart their aroma.

Cacao was reserved solely for the elite, and generally only the males. At the great Aztec banquets, the men were served vessels of cacao at the completion of the meal, whereas the women drank a beverage of chia seeds and chili. Priests also likely drank cacao, as it was often mixed with hallucinogenic substances such as psychoactive mushrooms or peyote.

Cacao also served as a form of currency. The beans were used as a coin, and there were those who would attempt counterfeiting by filling empty cacao shells with clay, although this was a heavily punishable offense. The use of cacao as currency continued up to the twentieth century in parts of Mesoamerica.

Meat and Fish

When the Spanish arrived, they likened the diet of the inhabitants of Mesoamerica to a perpetual Lent, so little was their meat consumption. Prehistoric environmental factors left Mesoamerica with few large mammals. Among the few animals raised in Mesoamerica were the dog, the turkey (Meleagris gallopavo), and the Muscovy duck (Cairina moschata). One could also include among the domesticated animals several types of stingless honeybee and the cochineal insect, the latter used for a red dye later employed by the British for their "redcoats."

The meat of these domesticated animals was reserved for special feasts, with the exception of the nobility, who enjoyed meat on a daily basis. For any one of these feasts, a huge quantity of dogs, turkeys, and duck would be fattened and slaughtered and prepared generally in tamales or in one of the many soups and stews. Turkeys were considered a feast food, with the Maya especially reserving this bird for ceremonies related to planting and rain. After the introduction of the chicken, the role of the turkey diminished, although it was still used in the most important rituals.

At the time of European contact there were many dog breeds, including a rather large, hairless breed that has since become extinct. These breeds were separate from the dogs used as guard dogs, for hunting, or for companionship. The raising of edible breeds was a lucrative profession, and the animals were fed a rich diet of maize and even large quantities of avocado.

The New World was replete with wild game, however, and these were hunted and even somewhat "tamed." Several types of deer, while technically "wild," were kept in pens nearby the living quarters, and it was even said that Mayan women would suckle baby deer from their own breasts. Deer was probably the most commonly hunted and eaten of the wild animals; it has been found in archaeological contexts from the highest nobility to the lowest of peasants. Also utilized were two types of iguana, whose eggs and flesh were eaten, the armadillo, the peccary, the tapir, and several types of monkeys.

Food from the sea was important as well. Tropical fish, lobsters, other shellfish, and manatees were all caught and transported great distances to the major Aztec, Mayan, and Zapotec cities to be enjoyed by nobility and commoner alike. The fish were usually sundried or salt-dried, using the resources from the massive saltworks along the coastal regions.

From freshwater lakes and streams came turtles, crocodile, and many types of fish. The Aztec, who lived by Lake Texcoco, made perhaps the most extensive use of their lake resources, extracting a variety of fish, shrimp, insects, and insect eggs. A type of water bug called axayacatl was collected, formed into balls, and cooked in maize husks, and the eggs of this same water bug, called ahuautil, were eaten in tortillas and tamales. A tiny worm that lives in the lake was gathered and cooked with salt and chili until black and soft, and a type of algae was skimmed off the top of the lake, formed into bricks, and left in the sun until it turned black, when it was utilized somewhat like cheese. The Aztec were not the only ones to indulge in insects. The Maya and the Zapotec prepared and ate many insects, which apparently disgusted the Spanish, but little is known of how they were prepared.

The contact between Europe and the New World fundamentally changed the cuisines of the world. Where would Italian cuisine be without the tomato; Indian cuisine without the chili pepper; or the cuisines of northern Europe without the potato? Some of the ingredients and dishes presented here are instantly recognizable, whereas others are not, but this far from comprehensive list gives only an idea of the wealth and complexity of the pre-Columbian cuisines of Mesoamerica.

See also Central America; Chili Peppers; Feasts, Festivals, and Fasts; Fermented Beverages other than Wine or Beer; Flowers; Game; Iberian Peninsula; Inca Empire; Legumes; Maize; Meat; Mexico; South America; Squash and Gourds.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Coe, Michael D. The Maya. 6th ed. London: Thames and Hudson, 1993.

Coe, Sophie D. America's First Cuisines. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1994.

Coe, Sophie D., and Michael D. Coe. The True History of Chocolate. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1996.

Flannery, Kent V., ed. Maya Subsistence: Studies in Memory of Dennis E. Puleston. New York: Academic Press, 1982.

Foster, Nelson, and Linda S. Cordell, eds. Chilies to Chocolate: Food the Americas Gave the World. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1992.

Harrison, Peter D., and B. L. Turner, II, eds. Pre-Hispanic Maya Agriculture. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1978.

Lentz, David L. "Maya Diets of the Rich and Poor: Paleoethnobotanical Evidence from Copan." Latin American Antiquity 2, no. 3 (September 1991): 269–287.

Sokolov, Raymond. Why We Eat What We Eat: How the Encounter Between the New World and the Old Changed the Way Everyone on the Planet Eats. New York: Summit Books, 1991.

Tedlock, Dennis, trans. Popol Vuh: The Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996.

Townsend, Richard. The Aztecs. London: Thames and Hudson, 2000.

Weaver, Muriel Porter. The Aztecs, Maya, and their Predecessors: Archaeology of Mesoamerica. 3d ed. San Diego, Calif.: Academic Press, 1993.

White, Christine D., ed. Reconstructing Ancient Maya Diet. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1999.

Andrew R. Wyatt

And then the yellow corn and white corn were ground, and Xmucane did the grinding nine times. Food was used, along with the water she rinsed her hands with, for the creation of grease; it became human fat when it was worked by the Bearer, Begetter, Sovereign Plumed Serpent, as they are called.

After that, they put it into words: the making, the modeling of our first mother-father, with yellow corn, white corn alone for the flesh, food alone for the human legs and arms, for our first father, the four human works.

From Tedlock, Popol Vuh, p. 140