The most important staple of Aztec cuisine was maize (corn), a crop that was so important to Aztec society that it played a central part in their mythology. Just like wheat in Europe or rice in most of East Asia, it was the food without which a meal was not a meal. It came in an inestimable number of varieties varying in color, texture, size and prestige and was eaten as tortillas, tamales or atolli, maize gruel. The second constant of Aztec food was salt and chilies and the basic definition of Aztec fasting was to abstain from these two flavorers. The other major foods were beans and New World varieties of the grains amaranth (or pigweed), and chia. The combination of maize and these basic foods would have provided the average Aztec with a very well-rounded diet without any significant deficiencies in vitamins or minerals. The processing of maize called nixtamalization, the cooking of maize grains in alkaline solutions, also drastically increased the nutritional value of the common staple. The word Aztec is usually used as a historical term, although some contemporary Nahuatl speakers would consider themselves Aztecs. ... “Corn” redirects here. ... Aztec religion was a typical Mesoamerican religion combining elements of polytheism, shamanism and animism within a framework of Astronomy and calendrics. ... Species T. aestivum T. boeoticum T. compactum T. dicoccoides T. dicoccon T. durum T. monococcum T. spelta T. sphaerococcum T. timopheevii References:   ITIS 42236 2002-09-22 For the indie rock group see: Wheat (band). ... Species Oryza glaberrima Oryza sativa Brown basmati rice Terrace of paddy fields in Yunnan Province, southern China. ... East Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms. ... Two cooked flour tortillas. ... For the city in Ghana, see Tamale, Ghana A tamale or tamal (from Nahuatl tamalli) is a traditional Mexican foodstuff that begins with corn (maize) flour mixed with water and lard. ... A magnified crystal of a salt (halite/sodium chloride) Salt covering the floor of Bad Water in Death Valley, CA, the lowest point in the US. A salt, in chemistry, is defined as the product formed from the neutralisation reaction of acids and bases. ... The chili pepper, or more simply just chili, is the fruit of the plant Capsicum from the nightshade family, Solanaceae. ... Fasting is primarily the act of willingly abstaining from some or all food, drink, or both, for a period of time. ... Binomial name Phaseolus vulgaris L. Navy Bean redirects here. ... Amarant redirects here. ... Binomial name Salvia hispanica L. Chia (Salvia hispanica) is a plant of the genus Salvia of the mint family. ... Nixtamalization is the process whereby ripe maize grains are soaked and cooked in an alkaline solution, usually lime based, to cause the transparent outer hull, the pericarp, to separate from the grain. ... The common (Arrhenius) definition of a base is a chemical compound that either donates hydroxide ions or absorbs hydrogen ions when dissolved in water. ...

Water, maize gruels and pulque, the fermented juice of the century plant were the most common drinks, and there were many different fermented alcoholic beverages made from honey, cacti and various fruits. Drinking was tolerated, even for children on some occasions, but intoxication was not. Though sources diverge on the details, it is clear that the elderly were to some extent exempt from these restrictions. For others, the punishment could be extremely harsh, and the rules were especially strict for the elite who could be sentenced to death for immoderate bouts of drinking. The elite took pride in not drinking pulque, a drink of commoners, and preferred drinks made from cacao. It was one of the most prestigious luxuries available; it was the drink of rulers, warriors and nobles and was flavored with chili peppers, honey and an endless list of spices and herbs. So precious was cacao that the beans were used as currency, and even counterfeited. Pulque, or octili, is an alcoholic beverage made from the fermented juice of the maguey, and is a traditional native beverage of Mesoamerica. ... Binomial name Agave americana L. The Century Plant or Maguey (Agave americana) is an agave originally from Mexico but cultivated worldwide. ... This article is about the desert plant. ... Binomial name Theobroma cacao L. Cacao (Theobroma cacao) is a small (4–8 m tall) evergreen tree in the family Sterculiaceae (alternatively Malvaceae), native to tropical Mexico, but now cultivated throughout the tropics. ...

The Aztec diet included an impressive variety of animals; turkeys and various fowl, pocket gophers, iguanas, axolotls (a type of water salamanders), shrimp, fish, tapirs and a great variety of insects, larvae and insect eggs. They ate various mushrooms and fungi, including the parasitic corn smut, which grows on ears of corn. Squash was very popular and came in many different varieties. Squash seed, fresh, dried or roasted, ware especially popular. Tomatoes, though different from the varieties common today, was often mixed with chile in sauces or as filling for tamales. Genera Cratogeomys Geomys Orthogeomys Pappogeomys Thomomys Zygogeomys The pocket gophers are burrowing rodents of the family Geomyidae. ... Species Lesser Antillean Iguana, Green Iguana, Although iguana can refer to other members of the lizard family Iguanidae, this article concerns members of the genus Iguana. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Superfamilies Alpheoidea Atyoidea Bresilioidea Campylonotoidea Crangonoidea Galatheacaridoidea Nematocarcinoidea Oplophoroidea Palaemonoidea Pandaloidea Pasiphaeoidea Procaridoidea Processoidea Psalidopodoidea Stylodactyloidea True shrimp are swimming, decapod crustaceans classified in the infraorder Caridea, found widely around the world in both fresh and salt water. ... A giant grouper at the Georgia Aquarium Fish are aquatic vertebrates that are typically cold-blooded; covered with scales, and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins. ... Species Tapirus bairdii Tapirus indicus Tapirus pinchaque Tapirus terrestris Tapirs (IPA:ˈteɪpər, pronounced as in taper, or IPA:təˈpɪər, pronounced as in tap-ear) are large browsing mammals, roughly pig-like in shape, with short, prehensile snouts. ... Binomial name Ustilago maydis (Persoon) Roussel Corn smut is a disease of maize caused by the pathogenic plant fungus Ustilago maydis. ... Look up squash in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Binomial name Solanum lycopersicum L. Percentages are relative to US recommendations for adults. ...

Meals

Most sources describe two meals per day, though there is an account of laborers getting three meals, one at dawn, another one at around 9 in the morning and one at around 3 in the afternoon.^[1] This is similar to the custom in contemporary Europe, but it is unclear if intake of atolli, maize gruel, was considered a meal or not. Drinking a good amount of the thicker kinds of atolli could equal the calories in several tortillas, and atolli was consumed on a daily basis by most of the population. Traditional cornstarch-based Mexican hot drink. ... Porridge (also known in American English as hot cereal), is a simple dish made by boiling oats (normally crushed oats, occasionally oatmeal) or another meal in water and/or milk. ...

Food preparation

The main method of preparation was boiling or steaming in two-handled clay pots or jars called xoctli in Nahuatl and translated into Spanish as olla ("pot"). The olla was filled with food and heated over a fire. It could also be used to steam food by pouring a little water into the olla and then placing tamales wrapped in maize husks on a light structure of twigs in the middle of the pot.^[2] There are several references to frying in the accounts of Spanish chroniclers, but the only specification of the Aztec type of frying appears to be some kind of cooking that was done with syrup, not cooking fat. This is corroborated by the fact that no evidence for large-scale extraction of vegetable oils exist and that no cooking vessels suited for frying have been found by archeologists.^[3]

Foods

The Aztec staple foods included maize, beans and squash to which were often added chilies and tomatoes, all prominent parts of the Mexican diet to this day. They harvested acocils, a small and abundant shrimp of Lake Texcoco, as well as Spirulina algae, which was made into a sort of cake rich in flavonoids. Although the Aztecs' diet was mostly vegetarian, the Aztecs consumed insects such as crickets (chapulines), maguey worm, ants, larvae, etc. Insects have a higher protein content than meat, and even now they are considered a delicacy in some parts of Mexico. “Corn” redirects here. ... This article is on the plant. ... Species - hubbard squash, buttercup squash - cushaw squash - butternut squash - most pumpkins, acorn squash, summer squash References: ITIS 22365 2002-11-06 Hortus Third Squashes are four species of the genus Cucurbita, also called pumpkins and marrows depending on variety or the nationality of the speaker. ... Acocil comes from the nahuatl language and is written acotzilli Acocil is a fresh water crustacea is like a shrimp with two species (Cambarellus montezumae and Cambarellus zempoalensis), it resembles like a little crayfish or a small lobster and was considered in the past and persists as a delicious food. ... Species Spirulina is the common name for human and animal food supplements produced primarily from two species of cyanobacteria: Arthrospira platensis, and These and other Arthrospira species were once classified in the genus Spirulina. ... Molecular structure of flavone The term flavonoid refers to a class of plant secondary metabolites based around a phenylbenzopyrone structure. ... Subfamilies See Taxonomy section Crickets, family Gryllidae (also known as true crickets), are insects somewhat related to grasshoppers and more closely related to katydids or bush crickets (order Orthoptera). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Cereals

Varieties of maize.

Maize was the single most important staple of the Aztecs. It was consumed at every meal by all social classes, and played a central role in Aztec mythology. To some of the first Europeans, the Aztecs described maize as "precious, our flesh, our bones".^[4] It came in a vast number of varieties of various sizes, shapes and colors; yellow, reddish, white with stripes of color, black, with or without speckles and a blue-husked variant that was considered to be particularly precious. Countless other local and regional varieties must have also existed, but few were recorded. Maize was revered to such an extent that women blew on maize before putting it into the cooking pot so that it would not fear the fire, and any maize that was dropped on the ground was picked up rather than being wasted. One of the Aztec informants of the Spanish Fransiscan missionary and chronicler Bernardino de Sahagún explained the practice in the following way: Download high resolution version (1153x768, 195 KB)To increase the genetic diversity of U.S. corn, the Germplasm Enhancement for Maize (GEM) project seeks to combine exotic germplasm, such as this unusually colored and shaped maize from Latin America, with domestic corn lines. ... Download high resolution version (1153x768, 195 KB)To increase the genetic diversity of U.S. corn, the Germplasm Enhancement for Maize (GEM) project seeks to combine exotic germplasm, such as this unusually colored and shaped maize from Latin America, with domestic corn lines. ... “Corn” redirects here. ... Bernardino de Sahagún (1499-1590) was a Franciscan missionary to the Aztec (Náhua) people of Mexico. ...

A process called nixtamalization was used all over the Americas where maize was the staple. The word is a compound of the Nahuatl words nextli ("ashes") and tamalli ("unformed corn dough; tamal"), and the process is still in use today. Dry maize grain is soaked and cooked in an alkaline solution, usually limewater. This releases the pericarp, the outer hull of the grains and makes the maize easier to grind. The process transforms maize from a simple source of carbohydrates into a considerably more complete nutritional package; it increases the amount of calcium, iron, copper, zinc that are added through the alkalide or the vessel used in the process and niacin, riboflavin and more protein already present in the corn that aren't digestible to humans are made available through the process. The growth of certain mycotoxins (toxic fungi) is another benefit of nixtamalization. If the processed maize, the nixtamal, is allowed to ferment, further nutrients, including amino acids such as lysine and tryptophan are made available. Together with beans, vegetables, fruit, chilies and salt nixtamalized corn can form a complete and nutritionally satisfactory diet with no need for animal protein. Nixtamalization is the process whereby ripe maize grains are soaked and cooked in an alkaline solution, usually lime based, to cause the transparent outer hull, the pericarp, to separate from the grain. ... Nahuatl is a native language of central Mexico. ... For the city in Ghana, see Tamale, Ghana A tamale or tamal (from Nahuatl tamalli) is a traditional Mexican foodstuff that begins with corn (maize) flour mixed with water and lard. ... The common (Arrhenius) definition of a base is a chemical compound that either donates hydroxide ions or absorbs hydrogen ions when dissolved in water. ... Lime water is the common name for saturated calcium hydroxide solution. ... Species Elaeis guineensis Elaeis oleifera The oil palms (Elaeis) coomprise two species of the Arecaceae, or palm family. ... Lactose is a disaccharide found in milk. ... General Name, Symbol, Number calcium, Ca, 20 Chemical series alkaline earth metals Group, Period, Block 2, 4, s Appearance silvery white Standard atomic weight 40. ... General Name, Symbol, Number iron, Fe, 26 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 8, 4, d Appearance lustrous metallic with a grayish tinge Standard atomic weight 55. ... General Name, Symbol, Number copper, Cu, 29 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 11, 4, d Appearance metallic pinkish red Standard atomic weight 63. ... General Name, Symbol, Number zinc, Zn, 30 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 12, 4, d Appearance bluish pale gray Standard atomic weight 65. ... Niacin, also known as nicotinic acid or vitamin B3, is a water-soluble vitamin whose derivatives such as NADH, NAD, NAD+, and NADP play essential roles in energy metabolism in the living cell and DNA repair. ... Riboflavin (E101), also known as vitamin B2, is an easily absorbed micronutrient with a key role in maintaining health in animals. ... A representation of the 3D structure of myoglobin, showing coloured alpha helices. ... Mycotoxin is a toxin produced by a fungus under special conditions of moisture and temperature. ... Phenylalanine is one of the standard amino acids. ... Lysine is one of the 20 amino acids normally found in proteins. ... Tryptophan is an amino acid and essential in human nutrition. ...

Amaranth and chia were the other grains that contributed to the Aztec diet. Amarant redirects here. ... Binomial name Salvia hispanica L. Chia (Salvia hispanica) is a plant of the genus Salvia of the mint family. ...

Drink

A painting from Codex Mendoza showing an elderly Aztec woman drinking pulque.

There were many different alcoholic beverages made from fermented maize, honey, pineapple, cactus fruit and other plants. The most common was uctla which was made from maguey sap. It is today known as pulque, an Antillean term. It was drunk by all social classes, though some nobles made a point of not downing such a humble beverage. Drinking was tolerated, even for children at some occasions, but getting drunk was not. The penalties could be very stiff, and were stricter for the elite. The first transgression of a commoner would be punished by tearing his house down and sending him off to live in the field like an animal. A noble would generally not get a second chance and could be executed for overindulging in alcohol. Getting drunk appeared to have been more tolerated for elderly people, though the sources diverge as to the exact age.^[5] This did not prevent the occasional tragedy of nobles who became alcoholics and drank themselves into poverty, squalor and an early death. An informant of Sahagún told the sad story of a former Tlacateccatl, a general and commander of over 8,000 troops: Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1368x1482, 196 KB) Summary Page depicting use of intoxicants by elder Aztecs. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1368x1482, 196 KB) Summary Page depicting use of intoxicants by elder Aztecs. ... The first page of Codex Mendoza. ... Binomial name Agave americana L. The Century Plant or Maguey (Agave americana) is an agave originally from Mexico but cultivated worldwide. ... Pulque, or octili, is an alcoholic beverage made from the fermented juice of the maguey, and is a traditional native beverage of Mesoamerica. ... The Antilles (the same in French; Antillas in Spanish; Antillen in Dutch) refers to the islands forming the greater part of the West Indies in the Caribbean. ... Tlacateccatl pictured in the Codex Mendoza folio 67r. ...

Cacao

Cacao had immense symbolic value. It was a rare luxury and an import that could not be grown within the boundaries of the Aztec Empire. There are no detailed descriptions of how cacao solids were prepared, but there are a number of allusions to the fact that it was eaten in some form. Cacao beans were among the most valuable commodities and could be used as a form of payment, although of somewhat low value; 80-100 beans could be used to buy a small mantle or a canoe-full of fresh water if one lived on the salty part of the lakes around Tenochtitlan. Nevertheless beans were frequently counterfeited by filling empty cacao shells with dirt or mud. The word Aztec is usually used as a historical term, although some contemporary Nahuatl speakers would consider themselves Aztecs. ...

Cacao was most commonly drunk as xocolatl ("bitter water", the origin of the word chocolate) and was the beverage of warriors and nobles. It was considered a potent intoxicant and something that was drunk with great solemnity and gravity; it was described as something "not drunk unthinkingly". Chocolate could be prepared in a huge variety of ways, but most of them involved mixing hot or tepid water with toasted and ground cacao beans, maize gruel and any number of flavorers such as chilies, honey, vanilla and a wide variety of spices.^[7] The ingredients were mixed and beaten with a beating stick or aerated by pouring the chocolate from one vessel to another. If the cacao was of high quality, this produced a rich head of foam. The head could be set aside, the drink further aerated to produce another head, which was also set aside and then placed on top of the drink along with the rest of the foam before serving.^[8] Chocolate most commonly comes in dark, milk, and white varieties, with cocoa solids contributing to the brown coloration. ...

Dietary norms

Fasting

The primary meaning of an Aztec fast was to abstain from salt and chilies and all members of Aztec society engaged in fasting to some extent. There were no regular exceptions from the fast, something that shocked the first Europeans who came into contact with the Aztecs. Though fasting was common in Europe, there were permanent exceptions for the women and small children, the sick or frail and the elderly. Before the New Fire ceremony, which occurred every 52 years, some priests fasted for a whole year; the other priests 80 days and lords 8 days. Commoners engaged in fasts, but less rigorously. There was also a permanent contingent of fasters in Tehuacan. Along with various ascetic rigors like sleeping on a stone pillow, they fasted for periods of four years on just one 50-gram tortilla (ca 2 ounces) per day. The only exceptions were every 20 days, when they were allowed to eat whatever they wanted.^[9] Tehuacán is the second largest city in the state of Puebla, Mexico, with a population of 210,000. ...

Even rulers such as Moctezuma were expected to cut down on their otherwise luxurious lifestyle and did so with considerable conviction and effort. Abstained from "luxuries, flowers, perfumes and sex with women; eating only cakes of michihuauhtli and seeds of amaranth or Chenopodium; the chocolate was replaced with water mixed from parched bean powder. This can be contrasted with the fasts of many European nobles and clergy that, while obeying the letter of the religious regulation by replacing meat and animal products with fish, were exquisite feasts in their own right.^[10]

Cannibalism

The Aztecs practiced ritual cannibalism. Victims, usually prisoners of war, were sacrificed in public on top of temples and pyramids by cutting out their hearts. The bodies were then thrown down to the ground and the bodies would be dismembered and the pieces distributed to the elite, which were mostly warriors and priests. The meat was consumed in the form of stews flavored only with salt and eaten with maize tortillas. In the late 70s the anthropologist Michael Harner suggested that the Aztecs had resorted to large-scale, organized cannibalism to make up for an assumed protein deficiency in the diet. This idea gained some support from some scholars, but has been shown based on many unfounded assumptions and speculation about cuisine, agriculture and demographics, making it an unlikely scenario.^[11] This article is about consuming ones own species. ... Michael Harner synthesized shamanic beliefs and practices from all over the world into a system now known as core shamanism or neoshamanism. ... A representation of the 3D structure of myoglobin, showing coloured alpha helices. ...

See also

• Native American cuisine
• Maya diet and subsistence
• Domesticated plants of Mesoamerica
• Agriculture in Mesomerica

Native American Cuisine includes all food practices of the native peoples of the Americas. ... The diet and subsistence strategies of the ancient Maya were varied and extensive. ... Domesticated plants of Mesoamerica, established by agricultural developments and practices over several thousand years of pre-Columbian history, include maize and capsicum. ...

Notes

Binomial name Piper nigrum L. Black pepper (Piper nigrum) is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. ... Binomial name Cucumis melo L. The melon is the fruit and plant of a typically vine-like (climber and trailer) herb that was first cultivated more than 4000 years ago (~ 2000 BC) in Persia and Africa. ... Block quote |}Insert non-formatted text hereInsert non-formatted text here-- For other uses, see Almond (disambiguation). ... Binomial name Pimenta dioica (L.) Merr. ...

References

• Coe, Sophie D. (1994) America's first cuisines ISBN 0-292-71159-X
• Ortiz de Montellano, Bernard R. (1990) Aztec medicine, health, and nutrition ISBN 0-8135-1562-9