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Mexican Cuisine
Mexican cuisine consists of the cuisines and associated traditions of the modern country of Mexico. Its earliest roots lie in Mesoamerican Cuisine, Mesoamerican cuisine. Mexican cuisine's ingredients and methods arise from the area's first agricultural communities, such as those of the Olmecs, Olmec and Maya civilization, Maya, who domesticated maize, created the standard process of nixtamalization, and established foodways. Successive waves of other Mesoamerican groups brought with them their cooking methods. These included the Teotihuacanos, Toltec, Huastec civilization, Huastec, Zapotec civilization, Zapotec, Mixtec, Otomi people, Otomi, Tarascan state, Purépecha, Totonac, Mazatec, Mazahua people, Mazahua, and Nahuas, Nahua. With the Mexica formation of the multi-ethnic Triple Alliance (Aztec Empire), culinary foodways became infused (Aztec cuisine). Today's food staples native to the land include corn (maize), turkey, beans, squash, amaranth, Chia seed, chia, avocados, to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tex-Mex
Tex-Mex cuisine (derived from the words ''Texas'' and ''Mexico'') is a regional American cuisine that originates from the culinary creations of Tejanos, Tejano people. It has spread from border states such as Texas and others in the Southwestern United States to the rest of the country. It is a subtype of Cuisine of the Southwestern United States, Southwestern cuisine found in the American Southwest. Common dishes Some ingredients in Tex-Mex cuisine are also common in Mexican cuisine, but others, not often used in Mexico, are often added, such as the use of cumin, introduced by Spanish immigrants to Texas from the Canary Islands, but used in only a few central Mexican recipes. Tex-Mex cuisine is characterized by its heavy use of shredded cheese, beans, meat (particularly Chicken as food, chicken, beef, and pork), chili peppers, and spices, in addition to flour tortillas. Sometimes various Tex-Mex dishes are made without the use of a tortilla. A common example of this is the " ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Totonac
The Totonac are an Indigenous people of Mexico who reside in the states of Veracruz, Puebla, and Hidalgo. They are one of the possible builders of the pre-Columbian city of El Tajín, and further maintained quarters in Teotihuacán (a city which they claim to have built). Until the mid-19th century they were the world's main producers of vanilla. The Totonac people cultivated vanilla in Papantla, but faced with competition when the French island of Réunion entered the market. This group of people also encountered conflicts over land ownership during the course of the 19th and early 20th centuries, as the privatization of communal land in Papantla became more of a concern to local elites. Etymology The term "totonac" refers to the people living in Totonacapan. There is no agreement as to the origin of the term. Some authors have translated the term "totonac" as a Nahuatl word meaning "People of Hot Land". The translation for this word in the Totonac Language, according ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cactus
A cactus (: cacti, cactuses, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae (), a family of the order Caryophyllales comprising about 127 genera with some 1,750 known species. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Greek word (''káktos''), a name originally used by Theophrastus for a spiny plant whose identity is now not certain. Cacti occur in a wide range of shapes and sizes. They are native to the Americas, ranging from Patagonia in the south to parts of western Canada in the north, with the exception of ''Rhipsalis baccifera'', which is also found in Africa and Sri Lanka. Cacti are adapted to live in very dry environments, including the Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on Earth. Because of this, cacti show many adaptations to conserve water. For example, almost all cacti are succulents, meaning they have thickened, fleshy parts adapted to store water. Unlike many other succulents, the stem is the only part of most cacti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spirulina (dietary Supplement)
Spirulina is the dried biomass of cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) that can be consumed by humans and animals. The three species are '' Arthrospira platensis'', ''A. fusiformis'', and ''A. maxima''. Recent research has further moved all these species to ''Limnospira''. ''L. fusiformis'' is also found to be insufficiently different from ''L. maxima'' to be its own species. Cultivated worldwide, "spirulina" is used as a dietary supplement or whole food. It is also used as a feed supplement in the aquaculture, aquarium, and poultry industries.Vonshak, A. (ed.). ''Spirulina platensis (Arthrospira): Physiology, Cell-biology and Biotechnology.'' London: Taylor & Francis, 1997. Use of the term and differences between species The species ''A. maxima'' and ''A. platensis'' were once classified in the genus ''Spirulina''. The common name, spirulina, refers to the dried biomass of ''A. platensis'', which belongs to photosynthetic bacteria that cover the groups Cyanobacteria and Proch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agave
''Agave'' (; ; ) is a genus of monocots native to the arid regions of the Americas. The genus is primarily known for its succulent and xerophytic species that typically form large Rosette (botany), rosettes of strong, fleshy leaves. Many plants in this genus may be considered perennial, because they require several to many years to mature and flower. However, most ''Agave'' species are more accurately described as monocarpic rosettes or multiannuals, since each individual rosette semelparity, flowers only once and then dies; a small number of ''Agave'' species are polycarpic. Along with plants from the closely related genera ''Yucca'', ''Hesperoyucca'', and ''Hesperaloe,'' various ''Agave'' species are popular ornamental plants in hot, dry climates, as they require very little supplemental water to survive. Most ''Agave'' species grow very slowly. Some ''Agave'' species are known by the common name "century plant". is a Spanish word that refers to all of the large-leafed pla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cocoa Bean
The cocoa bean, also known as cocoa () or cacao (), is the dried and fully fermented seed of ''Theobroma cacao'', the cacao tree, from which cocoa solids (a mixture of nonfat substances) and cocoa butter (the fat) can be extracted. Cacao trees are native to the Amazon rainforest. They are the basis of chocolate and Mesoamerican foods including tejate, an indigenous Mexican drink. The cacao tree was first domesticated at least 5,300 years ago by the Mayo-Chinchipe culture in South America before it was introduced in Mesoamerica. Cacao was consumed by pre-Hispanic cultures in spiritual ceremonies, and its beans were a common currency in Mesoamerica. The cacao tree grows in a limited geographical zone; today, West Africa produces nearly 81% of the world's crop. The three main varieties of cocoa plants are Forastero, Criollo, and Trinitario, with Forastero being the most widely used. In 2024, global cocoa bean production reached 5.8 million tonnes, with Ivory Coast leading a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tomatillo
The tomatillo (''Physalis philadelphica'' and ''Physalis ixocarpa''), also known as the Mexican husk tomato, is a plant of the nightshade family bearing small, spherical, and green or green-purple fruit. Tomatillos originated in Mexico and were cultivated in the Pre-Columbian Mexico, pre-Columbian era. A staple of Mexican cuisine, they are eaten raw and cooked in a variety of dishes, particularly salsa verde. The tomatillo is a perennial plant, but is generally grown for agriculture each year as if it were an annual plant, annual. Names The tomatillo (from Nahuatl, ') is also known as husk tomato, Mexican groundcherry, large-flowered tomatillo, or Mexican husk tomato. Some of these names, however, can also refer to other species in the genus ''Physalis''. Other names are Mexican green tomato and miltomate. In Spanish language, Spanish, it is called ''tomate de cáscara'' (husk tomato), ''tomate de fresadilla'' (little strawberry tomato), ''tomate milpero'' (field tomato), ''t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chia Seed
Chia seeds ( ) are the edible seeds of ''Salvia hispanica'', a flowering plant in the Mentha, mint family (Lamiaceae) native to central and southern Mexico, or of the related ''Salvia columbariae'', ''Salvia polystachia'', or ''Salvia tiliifolia''. Chia seeds are oval and gray with black and white spots, and have a diameter of around . The seeds are Hygroscopy, hygroscopic, absorbing up to 12 times their weight in liquid when soaked and developing a mucilaginous coating that gives chia-based foods and beverages a distinctive gel texture. There is evidence that the crop was widely Agriculture in Mesoamerica, cultivated by the Aztecs in Pre-Columbian era, pre-Columbian times and was a staple food for Mesoamerican cultures. Chia seeds are cultivated on a small scale in their ancestral homeland of central Mexico and Guatemala and commercially throughout Central and South America. Description Typically, chia seeds are small flattened ovoids measuring on average , with an average ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amaranth
''Amaranthus'' is a cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan group of more than 50 species which make up the genus of annual plant, annual or short-lived perennial plants collectively known as amaranths. Some names include "prostrate pigweed" and "Amaranthus caudatus, love lies bleeding". Some amaranth species are cultivated as leaf vegetables, pseudocereals, and ornamental plants. Catkin-like cymes of densely-packed flowers grow in summer or fall. Amaranth varies in flower, leaf, and stem color with a range of striking Plant pigments, pigments from the spectrum of maroon to crimson and can grow longitudinally from tall with a cylindrical, Succulent plant, succulent, fibrous stem that is hollow with grooves and bracteoles when mature. There are approximately 75 species in the genus, 10 of which are dioecious and native to North America, and the remaining 65 are monoecious species that are endemic to every continent (except Antarctica) from tropical lowlands to the Himalayas. Mem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aztec Cuisine
Aztec cuisine is the cuisine of the former Aztec Empire and the Nahua peoples of the Valley of Mexico prior to European contact in 1519. The most important staple was corn (maize), a crop that was so important to Aztec society that it played a central part in their culture. Just like wheat in much of Europe or rice in most of East Asia, it was the food without which a meal was not a meal. It came in varieties that differed in color, texture, size and prestige, and was eaten as corn tortillas, tamales or ''ātōlli'', maize gruel. The other constants of Aztec food were salt and chili peppers and the basic definition of Aztec fasting was to abstain from these two. The other major foods were beans, squash and New World varieties of the grains amaranth (or pigweed), and chia. The combination of maize and these basic foods would have provided the average diet. Aztec cuisine was a very well-rounded diet without any significant deficiencies in vitamins or minerals. The cooking of m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aztec Empire
The Aztec Empire, also known as the Triple Alliance (, Help:IPA/Nahuatl, [ˈjéːʃkaːn̥ t͡ɬaʔtoːˈlóːjaːn̥]) or the Tenochca Empire, was an alliance of three Nahuas, Nahua altepetl, city-states: , , and . These three city-states ruled that area in and around the Valley of Mexico from 1428 until the combined forces of the Spanish and their native allies who ruled under Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, defeated them in 1521. Its people and civil society are historiographically referred to as the ''Aztecs'' or the ''Culhua-Mexica''. The alliance was formed from the victorious factions of a civil war fought between the city of and its former tributary provinces. Despite the initial conception of the empire as an alliance of three self-governed city-states, the capital became dominant militarily. By the time the Spanish arrived in 1519, the lands of the alliance were effectively ruled from , while other partners of the alliance had taken subsidiary roles. The al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mexica
The Mexica (Nahuatl: ; singular ) are a Nahuatl-speaking people of the Valley of Mexico who were the rulers of the Triple Alliance, more commonly referred to as the Aztec Empire. The Mexica established Tenochtitlan, a settlement on an island in Lake Texcoco, in 1325. A dissident group in Tenochtitlan separated and founded the settlement of Tlatelolco with its own dynastic lineage. In 1521, their empire was overthrown by an alliance of Spanish conquistadors and rival indigenous nations, most prominently the Tlaxcaltecs. The Mexica were subjugated under the Spanish Empire for 300 years, until the Mexican War of Independence overthrew Spanish dominion in 1821. Today, descendants of the Mexica and other Aztecs are among the Nahua people of Mexico. Since 1810, the broader term ''Aztec'' is often used to describe the Mexica. When a distinction is made, Mexica are one (dominant) group within the Aztecs. Names The ''Mexica'' are eponymous of the place name Mexico (''Mēxihco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
