Pre-Columbian Maya Feast

Medieval European dishes are both familiar and alien to the modern Westerner. While the forms and methods (roasting, boiling, ect) are instantly recognizable, the ingredients and their combinations are not. More jarring than what is present is what is absent. The Columbian Exchange is a term used to describe the process by which 'Old World' and 'New World' crops and animals crossed the Atlantic. Prior to this exchange, Italian food had no tomatoes, English cooks made do without potatoes, and Indian dishes remained mild in the absence of spicy peppers. In much the same way, Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican food will be instantly recognizable to anyone acquainted with Mexican or Central American cooking. The flavors however, will be uniquely Maya shaped by a unique palette of spices rarely used today.

At the heart of the Maya diet was maize. Maize was consumed at every meal, every day. Without it, a meal was not a meal. While this may seem monotonous, the Maya prepared this staple crop in a broad variety of ways, and a huge vocabulary existed to describe 'sweet maize', 'sour maize', 'smooth maize', ect. Europeans were quick to adopt maize as part of their agricultural repetoir but found that those who relied on it began to sicken and die in great numbers. The disease 'pellagra' is a nutritional deficiency (not unlike scurvy) caused by the lack of niacin. Mesoamericans avoided the ravages of this disease by first subjecting their maize to a process known as nixmatelization. Soaking the maize in an alkali solution prior to consumption unlocked the essential amino acids needed to sustain life. The resulting product is known as masa harina, and is richer in nutrition and flavor than unrefined maize. Masa harina, along with beans and squash formed the vaunted Mesoamerican Triad, which supplied the people of Mexico and Central America with a complete nutritional profile.

The Maya typically sat on mats at a low table while eating. The style of eating was characterized by a base of maize (such as tortillas or tamales) and a variety of sauces and stews to accompany them. Eating was done with the hands, and bowls of water were available to clean between courses. Finger food predominated in the absence of forks or knives. Among the nobility, feasting was as much a favorite pastime as a crucial political tool. Powerful Maya lords amassed food from their vassals which they then distributed back out to their subsidiaries in the form of lavish feasts. These feasts cemented bonds of loyalty and dependence. Maya city states would cement diplomatic relations with feasts. Even among the poorest of the Maya, small scale feasts were held to commemorate important life events such as marriages.

The raw materials are: Turkey, ground annatto seeds, corn husks, cacao, honey, tomatillos, cactus pears, two kinds of chilis, beans, masa harina, avocado leaf, tomatoes, prickly pear, and pumpkin seeds

Beans were a staple of the Maya diet, consumed daily. A wide variety were grown, including the red beans used in this recipe. Beans were not only valuable because of their nutritional value, but also for their capacity for nitrogen fixation. Beans could easily be sown among the maize crops and would refresh lost nitrogen in the soil. This help avert the soil depletion which large scale agriculture tends to cause.

Dried beans should be soaked, preferably overnight before use. Change the water several times as it becomes discolored. Most beans are slightly toxic and without washing can cause stomach pain.

The first dish will be a bean stew. Stews like this were ubiquitous on the Maya table as a filling for tortillas or a dipping sauce for tamales. Fill a pot with water and add to it your soaked beans, avocado leaves, and a few red chilies. Bring this pot to a low boil and cover.

Once your liquid has cooked down, introduce and hand full of pumpkin seeds. Pumpkins and squash were another staple, bringing much needed vitamins into the Maya diet. Their seeds were frequently introduced into stews or eaten roasted.

The next dish will be a green sauce for our tamales. The Maya table was heavy on sauces which augmented the monotony of the maize. In this case we will be making a simple sauce of tomatillo and green chili.

The preparation is simple. Simply mash the ingredients (a mortar is helpful here) until they form a paste. The sauce will be fairly liquid. Prepared sauces were a commonplace item for the in the markets of Maya cities.

Next begin to prepare the turkey which will fill your tamale. The Mesoamerican diet was light on animal protein owing to the lack of domesticated livestock. Hunting was viable, but local wildlife was easily exhausted. Fishing in coastal region was commonplace, and there were profits to be made supplying the inland cities with dried seafood. The most frequently consumed animal protein came in the form of insects of various kinds which were eaten in abundance. One of the only animals domesticated and eaten by the Maya were the turkey and duck. For your tamale filling, combine diced turkey, annatto seeds, and red chilies.

Into this add diced tomatoes. Tomatoes, along with chilies were among the most consumed fruits in Mesoamerica. They were a crucial source of vitamin C.

Bring this to a slow boil in a pan. Stew it slowly until the meat is extremely soft.

In preparation for tamales, flavor the masa harina with annatto seeds and salt. The extraction of salt was a large scale industry for many coastal cities. The process involved flooding large reservoirs with sea water, sealing them off, and allowing them to dry out until only the solid crystals remained. A Maya undertaking a fast for religious purposes was confined to maize without salt or chili.

Preparation of tamales was a daily task across Mesoamerica. Even Maya armies would, while on campaign, include a cadre of women whose task was to supply the troops with tamales. Gradually work water into the flour.

Your final product should be malleable and without flakes. You need your dough to easily take and hold shapes. It was not uncommon to mold baked maize products in stylized shapes to celebrate certain holidays.

Soak your corn husks in water until they are soft. Spread a layer of dough on the inside and include some filling in the center as seen here. Once you have done this, roll the entire husk closed to form a tube filled with the turkey.

Make any number of these packages and place them in a steamer. Maya tamales were either steamed or baked directly over embers. They should steam for about 20 minutes.

In the meantime prepare an atole style cacao drink. It would be difficult to overstate the importance of cacao to Mesoamerican cultures. It was more than the pleasant, caffeinated beverage enjoyed today. The consumption of cacao was rich with meaning, and the Maya created laws and traditions dictating where, when, and how cacao was to be consumed and restricted who was allowed to consume it. The cacao consumed in Mesoamerica was not sweet, but bitter and often heavily spiced. While the Aztecs consumed their cacao cold, and largely unadulterated, the Maya often drank it warm and sometimes included corn meal to form a smooth drink known as atole. Here we are blending masa harina and raw cacao powder

Place them in a pot or kettle, add water, and bring to a boil. Melt a good portion of honey into the mixture. The Maya were skilled apiarists, and honey was a commonly consumed sweetener.

Next add red chili peppers to your liking. This drink is intended to be spicy.

As your cacao boils, whisk it vigorously to form a rich froth forms on top. Throughout Mesoamerica a specialized tool was used to achieve this consistency which operated much like a butter churn.

By now your tamales should be ready. Unwrapped this should be the appearance.

Our final menu is comprised of:
Turkey tamales with tomatillo salsa, red beans with pumpkin seeds, two types of cactus fruit, and cacao