Lecture 16: Aztecs and the Roots of Mexican Cooking
be of the Aztec, and all of them still form a basic core of Mexican
cuisine. All were being cultivated before the Aztecs showed up. When the Aztecs arrived in around 1325, they were a small tribe of
about 10,000 people that settled on the shores of Lake Texcoco in
central Mexico, already a fairly densely populated area—but one
that had no ruling, dominant power after the collapse of the Toltec
state (around 1150). The area was much like medieval Europe in that there were many
small autonomous regions whose ruling elites married each other.
Sometimes, they fought wars, but there was no nation-state. Aztecs
just happened to be fi ercer warriors than anyone else and were hired
as mercenaries. They even moved about a lot as their alliances with
various tribes shifted. The Aztecs had a legend that when they saw an eagle perched on a
cactus with a snake in its mouth (the symbol on the Mexican fl ag),
that’s the place they should settle down. That’s where they founded
their city Tenochtitlán. From there, they started to conquer their
neighbors—a warrior elite of marauders, just like in Europe. By the
15 th century, they dominated the whole region.Ingredients of World Importance
In early Mexican societies, maize was a staple that took on a
deeply religious signifi cance. The Maya word for it is kana, which
means “our mother.” On its own, it is very nutritious, but it lacks
some essential amino acids like lysine, isoleucine, and tryptophan.
However, in combination with beans, it provides a more complete
protein package that you can live on. Processed maize was typically ground on a saddle-shaped metate
and made into a dough now called a masa, fl attened into disks, and
cooked on a comal (originally made of clay, but now a fl at metal
cooking surface). Masa could also be popped, steamed in a corn
husk to make tamales, or made into a drink called atole.