It is known that the Mayas enjoyed chocolate. The seed from the cacao tree is the main ingredient in chocolate drinks. Just as you drink chocolate milk and hot chocolate, they too drank chocolate in many forms, from a frothy drink to a pulpy mush.

The Mayas referred to chocolate as “The Drink of the Gods.” They had other food such as cornmeal, maize, black beans, roasted meat, rabbit stew, turkey and meat. . The principal food of the Mayas was maize (corn). They cooked it in many ways, just as you have corn muffins, corn on the cob, corn pudding, and more.

cacao tree          

 

Mesoamerica is described as the “daughter of maize.” Maize was the single most important part of both daily and religious life.   More than just a natural resource, it is seen as the principal feature of an agricultural society. The Mesoamericans also obtained food through harvesting, hunting, and fishing. They consumed greens, fruits, and cactus fruits such as the pitaya and prickly pear.

They also ate pineapple, papaya, and mamey. They hunted iguanas, frogs, snakes, and gathered different types of mollusks. Their sources of food varied greatly and were rich in nutrients. Mamey Sapote remains a popular fruit in Florida, the Caribbean islands, and Central America today. It is sometimes cultivated outside of the Americas.  The fruit is large (up to a foot long!) with orange flesh tasting somewhat like a flavorful pumpkin. Many varieties are available.

The Mayas, like others who cultivated the tropical rainforest, practiced cut-and-burn agriculture. Because growth is so rapid in tropical rainforests, the nutrients provided by dead plants and animal droppings get used up very quickly.  Rainforest soil is not fertile ground for growing crops.

In cut-and-burn agriculture, the Mayans would cut down a patch of forest, burn the felled trees and plants for fertilizer, and then cultivate the plot.

Because the Mayans did not replenish the land, their soil would be too poor for growing food in two to four years.  It takes a lot of land to support a family. Every five people probably needed at least 70 acres to grow their food.

 

(adapted from source)