Aztec cuisine

It came in varieties that differed in color, texture, size and prestige, and was eaten as corn tortillas, tamales or ātōlli, maize gruel.

[citation needed] The cooking of maize grains in alkaline solutions, a process called nixtamalization, significantly raised the nutritional value of the common staple.

Favored by rulers, warriors and nobles, they were flavored with chili peppers, honey and a long list of spices and herbs.

They also domesticated turkeys, duck and dogs as food and at times ate meat from larger wild animals such as deer, but none of these were a major part of their diet.

Further, certain warriors, in their afterlife, were believed to have been turned into butterflies and hummingbirds with the ability to fly back to the realm of the living to feed on nectar.

Before a meal, servants presented fragrant tobacco tubes and sometimes also flowers with which the guests could rub their head, hands, and neck.

Rich hosts could often receive guests sitting in rooms around an open courtyard similar to Caravanserais and senior military men would perform dances.

As with all other aspects of life, the Aztecs stressed the dual nature of all things, and toward the end of the banquet the host would be sternly reminded by his elders of his own mortality and that he should not be overcome with pride.

[6] The Aztecs private feasts included music singing, storytelling, dancing, incense burning, flowers, tobacco, offerings, and gift-giving.

This feast introduced the child to actions important to their religious life such as singing, dancing, ceremonial drinking, sacrificial bloodletting, and body modification.

The wedding process also contained many ceremonies, the parents of a young male, when marriage was desired, had to ask permission of his calmecac school leaders.

It could also be used to steam food by pouring a little water into the xoctli and then placing tamales wrapped in maize husks on a light structure of twigs in the middle of the pot.

In major Aztec towns and cities there were vendors that sold street food of all kinds, catering to both the rich and poor.

Other than ingredients and prepared food every imaginable type of ātōlli could be bought, either to quench one's thirst or as an instant meal in liquid form.

It was also used to grind sauce ingredients like peppers, though different sets of manos and metates would likely have been used to avoid getting other flavors in maize dough (masa).

This is corroborated by the fact that no evidence for large-scale extraction of vegetable oils exist and that no cooking vessels suited for frying have been found by archaeologists.

[18] Aztec staple foods included maize, beans and squash to which were often added chilis, nopales and tomatoes, all prominent parts of the Mexican diet to this day.

They harvested acocils, a small and abundant crayfish of Lake Texcoco, as well as Spirulina algae, which was made into a sort of cake called tecuitlatl and was rich in flavonoids.

One of the Aztec informants of the Spanish Franciscan missionary and chronicler Bernardino de Sahagún explained the practice in the following way: Our sustenance suffers, it lies weeping.

If the processed maize, the nextamalli, is allowed to ferment, further nutrients, including amino acids such as lysine and tryptophan are made available.

[25] Several native species of plants used as seasonings produced flavors similar to Old World spices that were introduced after the Spanish conquest.

Other flavorings available included mesquite, vanilla, achiote, epazote, hoja santa, popcorn flower, avocado leaf, and other indigenous plants.

There were many variations of ātōle: a mixture of 1/10 maguey syrup made nequātōle; adding chili ground with salt and tomato would make iztac ātōle; letting maize dough sour for 4–5 days and then adding more fresh dough with chili and salt would make xocoātōle.

Along with various ascetic rigors like sleeping on a stone pillow, they fasted for periods of four years on one 50-gram corn tortilla (about 2 ounces) per day.

This can be contrasted with the fasts of many European nobles and clergy, which, while obeying the letter of the religious regulation by replacing meat and animal products with fish, were still luxurious feasts in their own right.

During celebrations of Huitzilopoctli, it was noted by Friar Duran: "I have been assured that they became so weak because of the terrible eight-day fast that for another eight days they were not themselves, nor were they satisfied with eating.

During festivals in honor of Chicomecoatl, there would be a drastic back and forth of gorging and fasting, so much so that people would become ill.[7] Bernal Diaz del Castillo comments on how the ruler of Tenochtitlan was served food: His cooks had more than thirty styles of dishes made according to their fashion and usage, and they put them on small low clay braziers so that they would not get cold ... if it was cold they made him a fire of glowing coals made from the bark of certain trees ... the odor of the bark ... was most fragrant ... they put the tablecloths of white fabric ...

"[7]Aztec expansion was targeted in ways to gain or maintain access to foodstuffs need for ceremony and everyday life.

[7] In the late 1970s the anthropologist Michael Harner suggested that the Aztecs had resorted to large-scale, organized cannibalism to make up for a supposed protein deficiency in the diet.

This idea gained support from some scholars, but others argued it to be highly unlikely because of unfounded assumptions about eating habits, agriculture and demographics.