I had a very hard time thinking about the subject this Edit would cover. Since my personal knowledge about Mexican cuisine is very little I began searching on Google. This was of course not the way to go because 80% of the results were recipes for tortillas or tacos.
Although these dishes have an interesting story behind them I didn't feel attracted to covering these dishes. So I began thinking: 'What is a Mexican-related subject I can write about and broadens my knowledge about Mexican cuisine, at the same time?'
Then it struck me. When I think about Mexico, I think about my vacation in Yucatan back in 2011 with my family. Yucatan is part of the peninsula in the east of Mexico and is also known as "Peninsular Maya."
I was 12 years old at that time and I was absolutely flabbergasted about all the ancient Maya towns with their big temples and magical cenotes. We visited multiple Mayan cities like Uxmal, Calakmul, Mayapan, and (obviously) Chitzen Itza. All while my parents told stories about the ancient Mayan Gods like the serpent God Kukulcan and Yum Kaax, Lord of the Forests. It was a truly magical vacation for a 12-year-old.
Since it made such an impression on me it isn't a total surprise, I often came back to the Mayas. In the sixth year of primary school, I held a presentation about the Mayan civilization. And in the third year of secondary school, I wrote a paper about Mayan mythology. The subject of this week’s Edit must be pretty clear by now. You guessed it, the Mayan cuisine.
Who are the Maya
I think most of us will have a vague idea of who the Maya is. A vast amount of us will know them as one of the three ancient civilizations of Central America next to the Aztecs and Incas. Or maybe you have watched the 2006 Mel Gibson-directed movie Apocalypto which gives an okay perspective of the Mayan civilization but historically seen is wrong in many ways. Allow me to give the Maya a quick introduction.
The first records of Mayan civilizations date back to almost 2.000 BC. Around this time the first villages started to pop up and saw agricultural developments. 2.500 years later the Mayan civilization was in full blossom and reached its peak with almost 6 million individuals belonging to the Mayan culture. Big cities were built with monumental temples that rose above the trees of the rainforest.
This period didn't take very long, unfortunately. Around 900 AD every big Mayan city had been completely abandoned, this is seen as the collapse of the Mayan civilization. Exactly why this collapse happened is still a mystery.
Researches have suggested a number of potential reasons for the collapse of the Mayan civilization including, plagues, overpopulation, warfare, and drought. Still, the Mayans didn't disappear in the aftermath of the collapse. Many Mayan civilians fled to the northwest of Mexico (which is Yucatan) and lived a relatively unbothered life until the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores. Today there are still some Maya societies living in the ancestral homelands of their forefathers.
What did the Mayans eat?
Now, let's talk about food. It must have been quite an operation to feed 6 million mouths at that time. Luckily the Maya were very innovative and creative in finding new sorts of foods. While Europe was still toying around with iron, the Maya were already a very organized civilization. The Maya were incredibly smart with planning seasonal agriculture on a very large scale, strategic hunting, and foraging.
It is truly remarkable how the Maya were able to live and survive for such a long time in such a vast land with rainforests, swamps, and mountainous hillsides without using metal tools and cattle.
Myths to the rescue
The Maya knew what season it was gonna be through different sorts of myths. For example, The Maize God (Hun Hunahpu) was decapitated at harvest time but reborn again at the beginning of a new growing season. By knowing this the Maya could calculate when it was which season and helped them knowing which seed to plant when, this resulted in very profitable harvests.
Golden Maize
Maize, squash, and beans formed the main diet of the Maya but maize always stood central. These three became later known as the Three Sisters. The Maya would ground up the maze on a metate and make pancakes from it, also known as tortillas. The Maya is the first known civilization to make tortillas. (Guess we still covered tortilla)
Another popular way to prepare the maize was by making it into a kind of porridge called atole, a kind of warm cornmeal drink. The Maya liked to drink this comforting beverage as breakfast. Nowadays it is traditionally drunk at celebrations of Dia de Los Muertos or Day of the Dead.
Chocolate
Talking about comforting beverages, chocolate drink was also invented by the Maya. And they not only invented chocolate drink but also the guilty pleasure of many, chocolate. The chocolate we know nowadays is very different from that what was made by the Maya. For instance, the Maya didn't cultivate sugar cane and so the Maya had to find another way of getting rid of that bitterness of cacao. To make Xocalatl, which translates to bitter water, they had to crush the cocoa beans, add chili peppers and water. Right before serving pour it into another cup so you would get a frothy foam on top.
Food of the Gods
This Xocolatl must have been quite something because the Maya believed chocolate was a food of the Gods (again?) and, therefore, was shared with everyone. It didn't matter from what social standing you were, every Mayan civilian could partake the beverage.
The Aztecs changed that. Aztecs didn't grow their own cocoa plants because they didn't have the knowledge and so had to trade for it. So the Maya placed a higher value on the cocoa beans. Only royal families and priests could now afford the food of the gods. The cocoa beans became so valued that it was served in goblets made of pure gold that would be discarded after just one use.
Chocolate now
When the conquistadores came they couldn't understand the Maya. 'How could you drink this bitter and almost unpalatable beverage’, they thought. They even hesitated to bring the cocoa beans back to them. Luckily they did and passed the bitter fruit on to the Spanish monks who invented the chocolate we know today.
At last
There is so much more to tell about the Maya and their smart ways of using local products. Many parts of Mayan cuisine can be found in different modern cuisines around the world. Just to name a few popular ancient Mayan dishes: Guacamole, Chocolate, Tortilla, Salsa, Quinoa, and Tamales. The influence of Mayan cuisine has been huge.
Hopefully, I have given you a better view of the ancient and strong Mayan civilization with this Edit. I also encourage you to visit at least once the magical peninsula of Yucatàn to admire the old Mayan cities and swim in the cenotes.
Oh, I'm sorry for not putting pictures of the 12-year-old overhyped César in Yucatàn, I wasn’t able to find them ☹️
See you in two weeks!