Mexican Food

Mexican cuisine consists of the cuisines and culinary traditions of the modern country of Mexico. Its roots lie in Mesoamerican cuisine. Its ingredients and methods begin with the first agricultural communities such as the Mayans who domesticated corn, created the standard process of maize-tamalization, and established their ways of eating (Mayan cuisine). [2] Successive waves of other Mesoamerican groups brought with them their own cooking methods. These included: the Olmec, Teotihuacan, Toltec, Huastec, Zapotec, Mixtec, Otomi, Purépecha, Totonac, Mazatec, Mazahuas, and Nahuas. With the Mexica formation of the Multi-ethnic Triple Alliance (Aztec Empire), culinary forms (Aztec cuisine) were infused. Today's staples are native to the earth and include: corn (maize), beans, squash, amaranth, chia, avocados, tomatoes, tomatillos, cocoa, vanilla, agave, turkey, spirulina, sweet potato, cactus, and chili pepper. Its history over the centuries has resulted in regional cuisines based on local conditions, including Baja Med, Chiapas, Veracruz, Oaxaca, and the American cuisines of New Mexico and Tex-Mex.