Foods of the Maya World

Foods of the Maya World
2012 10 01

By Michael Shapiro | NationalGeographic.com

We may not realize it, but many of our favorite foods—from guacamole to tamales to chocolate—were discovered, developed, and refined centuries ago in the Maya world. Here are a few of our favorites.

Chocolate

Cacao is endemic to the lands of the Maya, who were the first to take the seeds of the fruit and roast them to make hot chocolate. The ancient Maya didn’t make candy bars, nor did they add sugar and milk to the cacao. Instead they took their chocolate as a ceremonial elixir and a savory mood enhancer.

For the Maya, cacao was a sacred gift of the gods, and cacao beans were used as currency. Ek Chuah, the Maya god of merchants and trade, was also the patron of the cacao crop. When the Spanish invaded Maya lands in the 1500s, they adopted the beverage, adding sugar and milk to make it sweet and creamy. To learn more about cacao and taste chocolate, visit the Ecomuseo del Cacao in the Puuc region of Yucatán, www.ecomuseodelcacao.com.

Avocados and Guacamole

The avocado, originating in southern Mexico and Guatemala, is loved for its rich taste and creamy texture and was a treasured crop of the ancient Maya. Even today a person from Antigua Guatemala is called a panza verde, or green belly, because of the region’s reliance on avocados in hard times.

Combined with chilis, garlic, cilantro, onions, and lime or lemon, avocados become guacamole, a sumptuous appetizer. Don’t expect to find lots of Hass avocados in the Maya world—there are many other varieties, most of which are bigger.

In 1917, Wilson Popenoe, a California Avocado Association explorer, reported why Guatemalan avocados are best: “The flesh is of a deeper yellow color, smoother, more buttery [in] texture, and richer [in] flavor than any varieties yet known in the United States.”

Poc Chuc

This distinctly Yucatecan dish dates to the days before refrigeration, when meat was preserved with salt. Slow-cooked pork is combined with sour orange juice and vinegar to temper the saltiness of the meat. The orange juice refreshes the salted pork and gives it a tangy flavor—“sour orange” is a variety of orange; the juice hasn’t gone sour. The dish is topped with onions sauteed with coriander and a bit of sugar.

Julio Bermejo of Tommy’s Mexican Restaurant in San Francisco, which serves Yucatecan specialties, says his favorite restaurant in Yucatán is Restaurante El Príncipe Tutul-Xiu, in Maní: “They make the best poc chuc on Earth!”
Michelada

Southern Mexicans like to add some spice to their food—and their beer. A michelada (or chelada in some parts) infuses cerveza with lime, coarse salt, pepper, and shots of Worcestershire and/or Tabasco sauce, served in a chilled, salt-rimmed glass. Some versions also include soy sauce or Maggi seasoning. It sounds odd, but it’s refreshing and well suited to a hot day—or a rough morning.

If the spices sound a bit much, try a simple version, which blends just lime juice and salt with a light beer, like Corona or Tecate. It’s so popular that Miller and Budweiser have created their own versions of michelada, but of course there’s nothing like the real thing.

Corn Tortillas

Handmade Guatemalan tortillas provide an elemental satisfaction. In outdoor markets, you can hear a rhythmic clapping as women pat them into shape, then cook them on a comal, a big wood-fired iron or clay pan that looks like a Caribbean steel drum. These tortillas are only three or four inches across but thicker than what North Americans are accustomed to.

The Maya creation myth says people were made of masa (corn dough), and this remains the essential element of the indigenous Maya diet. Hot off the comal, tortillas are immensely satisfying, an ideal accompaniment to Guatemalan black beans, a perfect base for a layer of guacamole.

[...]

Read the full article at: nationalgeographic.com

Share |

Latest News from our Front Page

New EU law that could ban all seeds
2013 05 22
Seed lovers, growers and local producers could all be harmed under the proposed Regulation on Marketing of Plant Reproductive Material by the EU. Sign this petition and email the decision makers to stop this happening. A New Seed Law will go before the EU commissioners on May 6th 2013. The Regulation on Marketing of Plant Reproductive Material law will mean no ...

Guatemala’s top court overturns ex-dictator’s genocide conviction
2013 05 22
Guatemala’s top court has thrown another curve into the genocide case of former dictator Efrain Rios Montt, overturning his conviction and ordering that the trial be taken back to the middle of the proceedings. The ruling late Monday threw into disarray a process that had been hailed as historic for delivering the first guilty verdict for genocide against a former Latin ...

Papers Please: TSA-Style Checkpoints at UK Bus & Train Stations
2013 05 22
‘Airport-style’ harassment to “help people who use public transport feel safer.” Travel by train, tram or bus to destinations in central England and you are increasingly likely to be greeted by Britain’s ‘yellowjackets’: the high-visibility uniforms of Britain’s police force. ‘Airport-style’ security checkpoints are being rolled out at local bus and train stations up and down the UK after local pilot schemes ...

Man with ties to Boston bombing suspect shot, killed during FBI questioning
2013 05 22
As the investigation by officials into the Boston Marathon Bombing unfolds, the revelations are becoming stranger and more suspect. Wired.com reports: An FBI agent shot and killed an Orlando man and former mixed-martial arts fighter believed to be tied to Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the deceased Boston Marathon bombing suspect. Early this morning, during a post-midnight interview with Ibragim Todashev at his apartment, an ...

The Soviet Story - Why killing is essential to communism
2013 05 22
Communist regimes around the Globe are responsible for a greater number of deaths than any other political ideal or movement, including Nazism (death toll totals more than 94 million people). In the USSR alone communists killed more than 20 million people. Where are the seeds of evil that makes killing and torturing so essential to the ideology of Communism? Video from: ...

More News »