Mexican Food History
Facts about Mexican Food History
The long and rich Mexican cuisine history is the primary reason for the unique, rich and diverse Mexican cuisine in present Mexico.
Present Mexican cuisine is the product of a great mixture of very diverse cultures such as the Toltec, Maya, Aztec and European (specifically Spanish). Each of these cultures brought something new into Mexican cuisine and made it even more diverse, tasteful and unique.
Mayan Indian Empire covered (among other regions) the entire southeast of present Mexico and present Mexican states of Yucatan and Veracruz.
The basic Mayan food was corn which was used for making bread, tortillas, drinks, salsas, salads, etc. Mayans grew vegetables and collected fresh fruits and were great hunters. Mayan people that lived near the coast were fishermen and used all kinds of seafood in their diet.
Mayans were very fond of salsas, salads and sauces and they used all kinds of ingredients to make them. Also, on contrary to the popular belief Mayas were the ones who invented the chocolate, not the Aztecs. In fact, chocolate drink was enjoyed by Mayan people centuries before the Aztecs ever tasted chocolate.
The Aztec Attribute to the Mexican Food History
Around 1200 AD Aztecs gained the control over the Mayan Empire and introduced avocado, guava, honey, squash and domesticated ducks and turkey to the Mayan cuisine.
They also elevated the chocolate drink only for the warriors, nobility and special religious occasions because they believed that chocolate had special powers.
Mayans, Toltec and other Mesoamerican Indian tribes were under the rule of the Aztecs for the next 300 years until the arrival of the Spaniards.
With the arrival of the Spanish colonialist came many new foods in Mesoamerica (present Mexico) such as beef, pork, chicken, rice, wine, garlic and onions.
Finally, if you think that Mexican cuisine history ends with the arrival of the Spanish you couldnt be more wrong because modern Mexican cuisine has all of the above and much more to offer.
