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Episode: MEXICO

“Food of the Gods”

Before the arrival of the Spanish Conquistador Cortes in the 16^th century the Aztec peoples ruled much of Meso, or Central America for over a thousand years. This empire was built on the mass production and distribution of food, particularly corn. From this one vegetable a vast array of recipes were able to be created which amazed the Spanish invaders.

And even though the Aztecs gave us beans, tomatoes, vanilla, coffee and chocolate, perhaps the most influential food they cultivated, apart from corn, was the chili. Chili – a vegetable (no, it is not a spice) – which has circled the globe like no other. Imagine Indian or Thai curry without it? Unthinkable! Through Pre-Columbian archaeological sites we discover exactly what recipes they were using all of these once exotic ingredients in and how many of these foods were created by the ‘guidance of the Gods’ as has been claimed on their stone tablets.

However, we also examine the influence the Conquistadores had on the Aztecs’ diet as they introduced cattle, pigs, sheep, goats and chickens, as well as nuts and grains such as almonds, rice, and wheat and many fruit and vegetables. In archaeological sites being dug in Mexico we learn that these introduced foods quickly assimilated with the Aztec foods to create new and delicious recipes.

However, the Aztecs had a hideously dark dietary secret, that of mass cannibalism. Sacrificed to their Gods in their thousands, the eating of the dead was not just an occasional occurrence, it has been shown to be part of the diet of the Aztecs. Archaeological sites of the area show gruesome mass gravesites with gnawed human bones. But what can you gain from eating another human? Was it ritual or regular? We go someway in solving this mystery.

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