Enduring Mayan Foods and Their Preparations

Enduring Mayan Foods and Their Preparation

In thinking of a lush jungle full of pyramids, high priests, many gods, and conquest, one typically thinks of the Nile river valley and the Egyptians, however, the Maya also held such a place in the world’s history. In fact the Maya are responsible for foods that are a major part of our culture today. Because the Mayan empire was already in decline by A.D. 800-900 and they were not invaded by the Spanish until the 1500’s, there is little recorded history. Most of the early documents from the Spanish invasion were of a strictly military nature, so much has been filled in by bits and pieces found by archeologists and other scholars.

The methods of preparing ancient Mayan meals are the topic of great interest to many archeologists, anthropologists and food experts. One of the main sources of Mayan history is Diego De Landa’s cultural documentation of the Mayans in and around the Yucatan peninsula in 1572 while he was the Bishop of that area (Coe 133). Current research comes from many sources; from people who traveled to live among the Maya as well as scholars of their history. The main staples of the Mayan diet haven’t changed much over the years. Throughout history maize, beans and chilies have been daily fare interspersed with meat for special occasions, ceremonies and some daily consumption.

One item all sources agree upon is that maize was and continues to be the staple of the Maya diet. The story goes “In the beginning the gods made people out of wood. The stick figures did not give satisfaction, and the gods destroyed them. Only when the gods made people out of maize dough were true human beings created” (Coe 9). Maize pollen has been found dating as far back as eighty thousand years ago, but the next oldest maize found was near Oaxaca in Mexico dating to 5000 B. C. (Coe 10-11). Ancient preparations of maize based foods were very difficult and performed solely by women. In fact, women accompanied most military expeditions solely to grind maize. The Maya ruler, Kanek’ of Tayasal, took one woman for each fifteen-man squad to grind the maize, make the dough and form it into tamales or tortillas. These women had raw and festering hands and fingers from this laborious work (Coe 131).

The process to prepare the dough has changed little over the years, but there are modern conveniences that save time and the women’s hands. To this day in most Mayan villages the process begins with trips to the cenotes and wells, the only sources of fresh water in the Yucatan. Ocean water is purified by limestone caverns and the cenotes are like natural wells where the women travel with buckets to obtain water for cooking, cleaning and drinking. After collecting water, the masa preparation begins. The main maize crop is dried and stored to last the Maya until the next harvest. In ancient times, this hard, dry grain was made into a rough dough by using the nixtamal method which is a method that involves first soaking and then cooking the maize with ashes from the hearth or ground limestone. This not only softened the grain to ease grinding, but increased the protein content of the grain (Coe 14-15,147). It was then hand ground on ca’ which is a smooth stone using a k’abka’ – a stone rolling pin, or literally, “hand of the ca’“(Hamman 85). This was all done by women for their families. Today’s Mayan women still rise pre-dawn to grind that day’s maize. Now, if the women live in larger villages, there is a central grinding machine, or molineria, where they carry the nixtamal in bowls on their head to wait in line for their turn using the communal grinder to create masa dough (Hamman 18). In smaller or poorer villages, most families have a small, hand cranked grinder which also eases preparation of the masa for the days tortillas, tamales and posole. The most popular modern food item that comes from the Maya is the tortilla, and was a great staple of their daily menu.

In ancient times, the morning meal was a liquid beverage of masa mixed with water. This was sipped throughout the men’s day at the milpa, or field, where they tended the vegetables and maize. Tortillas, rolled by hand and grilled over the fire on a stone comal, were present at the larger late afternoon meal upon the men’s return and were used to scoop up the vegetable or bean soups and chili rescados present at these meals. Tamales sometimes took the place of tortillas, but had no fat in them; they were basically just steamed tortillas. They had no filling except for on special occasions and were wrapped in maize or banana leaves and put in the coals to cook. The soups were simmered over a fire on top of three stones and the vegetables for the rescados were roasted in the coals under the soup. The evening meal, if anyone was hungry for it, was leftovers of the midday meal (Hamman 11).

Today’s rural Maya consume a similar diet. Breakfast consists of tortillas with a thick soup of masa and chilies, or tortillas with a bean cream which is basically a creamy bean soup. The men still take the masa beverage out to the fields and return for the late afternoon meal of tortillas or tamales and vegetable soup, possibly containing some meat for flavoring. These soups are still prepared at the hearth over a fire and items are still roasted on coals for a meal such as this. The tamales are more likely to have some sort of fat and filling, but some are still prepared more simply than their modern Tex-Mex counterparts (Gerlach 31-35). The traditional wrap is the banana leaf as brooms are now made from dried maize leaves and stalks. The tortillas are now pressed in a tortilla press instead of rolled by hand, but are still grilled on a comal.

The most complex and interesting part of the Mayan diet comes from chilies. Chilies were typically eaten after roasting outdoors over a flame. Chilies were roasted outdoors in order to avoid the acrid smoke given off by the roasting process (Hamman 20). They were then mashed into a rescado with other ingredients such as roasted onions, tomatoes and garlic or ground into a liquid and mixed with masa and water. Both of these were served with tortillas as a meal or alongside a meal. Chilies were also dried and used in the vegetable and bean soups as a flavoring. The most popular chili in ancient times was an xcatic. It is still used today, but is difficult to find outside of the Yucatan. A banana pepper may be substituted in American versions of these recipes. Now, in the Yucatan the habanero is very common. It is used in many ways such as: dried and ground, made into a condiment with lime, salt, garlic and carrots, roasted in rescados, diced into salsa frescas and just plain on the side for the brave eaters. Chilies add the excitement and variety to the otherwise simple Mayan diet. Many varieties are used since chilies grow well in the warm tropical climate of the Yucatan.

Meat has always been a part of the Maya’s diet, but in a very different quanity and aspect. In ancient times, the men would sometimes return from their day at the milpa with wild game such as turkey, boar or deer. Back then, the priests had the first pick of the kill so they could sacrifice the appropriate parts of the meat to the gods. Then, the men were required to share the meat with families whose men could not hunt so that no one in the village went hungry. Meat such as venison, iguana, crabs and turtles were cooked by the men on a very basic grill called a barbacoa. The barbacoa was a framework of sticks over a fire. Meat was typically roasted this way immediately after the hunt in order to preserve it for the long trip back home. To preserve the meat, it was re-roasted daily (Coe 157). Men did all of the outdoor cooking except for roasting chilies. Bones found by archaeologists indicate that poultry was steamed or stewed, but never cooked with direct heat. The assumption is that the wild pheasants, turkeys and chickens were too tough to cook without slow moisture (Coe 155). After cooking the meat, it tended to be used as flavorings to soups, or fillings for tortillas and tamales. Having an abundance of meat was rare and when it was available, it was typically used for sacrifices to the gods. Fat was unappealing to the ancient Maya and was typically used to rub on the body as a sort of primitive lotion so that no part of the animal went to waste. In no way was lard used for their tamales.

In modern times, turkeys are domesticated as are chicken, but turkey seems to still be the poultry of choice. Venison and boar are now rarer in the wild. The favorite dish of the Yucatan Maya is Pibil, made of turkey, chicken or pork (Gerlach 20). This preparation would be an extravagance reserved for special occasions to the ancient Maya since entire pieces of the meat are used. They are seasoned with achiote, “a red coloring and flavoring derived from the greasy coating on the seeds of Bixa orellana” (Coe 59) wrapped in banana leaves and cooked in the hearthstones or a Pibil, an underground oven, until very tender and consumed alongside vegetable and bean dishes with corn tortillas. Seafood is widely available and prepared in a multitude of ways. One of the most popular being ceviche, whose preparation includes cooking the fish in an acid, typically lime juice. Refrigeration is still not prevalent in smaller outlying villages, so meat is eaten quickly or preserved in a process similar to making jerky. It is then hung and used for soup flavorings. Today there is a thriving beef industry in the Yucatan, but it has not become a part of the Mayan diet in any prevalent way. The beef is mainly raised for the tourists to the peninsula.

While today’s Mayan diet varies little from that of their ancestors, the additions of interesting sauces, spiced meats and the modern machines have improved upon what came before them. Preserving the ancient methods of cooking is important so modern culinarians can respect and learn from their history, however today’s embellishments have made the ancient foods more palatable to the masses. Ancient Maya are the grandfathers of food mistakenly labeled as “Mexican”; the tamale and the corn tortilla. Without them traditional Mexican fare would be sorely lacking in these staples. The Mayans were a proud and advanced society destroyed by the fervor of the Christians during the 1500’s who felt the need to transform the ancient heritages into that of their own. With that genocide, much of Mayan history was lost. The least that can be done is acknowledge the Mayans for what we know they have contributed to our modern lives, their cuisine.

Bibliography

Coe, Sophie D. America's First Cuisines. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1994.

Gerlach, Jeffrey, and Nancy Gerlach. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1994.

Hamman, Cherry. Mayan Cooking: Recipes from the Sun Kingdoms of Mexico. New York: Hippocrene Books, Inc., 1998.

Comments

[Nike Shox R4]

I believe that that more study we are, much more knowledge we possess. As long as we believe ourself, our dream will come true. I know this principle from your blog. Thank you so much.

[discount coach]

We don’t always get our hopes and dreams, and we don’t always get our own way.
But don’t give up hope, because you can make a difference one situation and one person at a time. Did you agree with me？