Aztec cuisine

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Aztec cuisine is the cuisine of the former Aztec Empire and the Nahua peoples of the Valley of Mexico prior to European contact in 1519. The most important staple was corn (maize), a crop that was so important to Aztec society that it played a central part in their culture. Just like wheat in much of Europe or rice in most of East Asia, it was the food without which a meal was not a meal. It came in varieties that differed in color, texture, size and prestige, and was eaten as corn tortillas, tamales or ātōlli, maize gruel. The other constants of Aztec food were salt and chili peppers and the basic definition of Aztec fasting was to abstain from these two. The other major foods were beans, squash 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 diet. The cooking of maize grains in alkaline solutions, a process called nixtamalization, significantly raised the nutritional value of the common...

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