The Aztecs, for the most part, enjoyed a healthy and diverse diet. They cultivated a large number and a great variety of foods, thanks for the fertile lowland soils in the lake regions of the Valley of Mexico.

Maize, a hardy plant capable of enduring climatic extremes as far as crops are concerned, was the staple of this diet. It could be prepared in a number of ways, such as steaming. But the most common method was to ground it into a flour, which was mixed with water, and kneaded into flat pancakes that were cooked upon a stone slate over an open fire. The finished tortillas were subsequently dipped in tomato and hot pepper stew. The Aztec people realized the importance of maize and therefore treated it with great reverence and tenderness. Women, who were responsible for the preparation of tortillas, would breathe gently on the kernels before dropping them into the cooking vessel.

Two other major components of the Aztec diet are amaranth, a type of grain, and avocado. Amaranthus is another resilient and adaptable plant that grows best in high temperatures and low moisture, and was known to the Aztecs as huahtli. Two species were cultivated by the ancient Mesoamericans: Amaranthus hypochondriacus and A. cruentus (the more popular of the two). It was popped, parched, and ground up, then prepared in the form of tortillas or tamales. Their leaves would have been used for salads, soups, protein concentrates, and dyes.

Avocado is a tree popular throughout tropical ecosystems. The Mexican variety, P. Americana drymifolia, is semi-tropical and was first domesticated in the Tehuacan Valley in 500 B.C.E. It was known to the Aztecs as ahuacacuauhitl.

Other plant foods included agave, beans, cacao, bell peppers, sweet potato, squash, pumpkin, chia, huauzontle, a turnip-like root called jicama, peanut, prickly pear, mushrooms, guava, apples, the melon ayotli, and the Maguey plant.

Meats were also present, although to a considerably lesser degree, and their bounty was dependent on one’s social standing in the strictly-regimented Aztec hierarchy. Farmers usually had to be content with tortillas and beans, interspersed with the occasional small game. Since cows were unknown to the ancient Mesoamericans, Aztec farmers domesticated smaller animals, such as rabbits, turkeys, and dogs, which they would consume on special occasions. And of course, there were always tadpoles, cactus worms, algae, waterfly eggs, lizards, snails, and fish available from the nearby Lake Texcoco. It is said that, being barbarians of northern Mexico who later migrated south, the Aztecs developed a taste for rattlesnakes in their original homeland.

Royalty, on the other hand, had access to a much larger and more flavorsome selection. Nobles were treated to turtles, crabs, wild pigs, and pheasants that were imported from distant and exotic places. The cacao drink xocoatl was another favorite of the Aztec elite. Its taste was bitter and spicy and sometimes flavored with honey or wild vanilla. Amazingly, it produced excitation beyond the powers of liquor, as documented by the Spanish conquistador Cortés.

As fun snacks, the Aztecs invented a form of popcorn from roasted maize, and chewing gum from the bitumen plant. The latter was also used to clean teeth.

The fertile lowlands in which the Aztecs cultivated their crops yielded rich agricultural resources upon which they built their prosperous civilization. They have had an impact not only through space, but through time as well.

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