{"id":3261,"date":"2015-03-31T09:17:25","date_gmt":"2015-03-31T13:17:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/?p=3261"},"modified":"2015-03-31T11:05:02","modified_gmt":"2015-03-31T15:05:02","slug":"the-aztec-diet-was-more-nutritious-than-it-may-seem-at-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/the-aztec-diet-was-more-nutritious-than-it-may-seem-at-first\/","title":{"rendered":"The Aztec diet was more nutritious than it may seem at first"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/VhZ-EKPPQkU?rel=0&amp;controls=0&amp;showinfo=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/center><\/p>\n<p>Colin M. MacLachlan, in his splendid <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Imperialism-Origins-Mexican-Culture-MacLachlan\/dp\/0674967631\/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&#038;ie=UTF8&#038;qid=1427651197&#038;sr=1-1&#038;keywords=imperialism+and+the+origins+of+mexican+culture\/marginalrevol-20\">Imperialism and the Origins of Mexican Culture<\/a>, reports:<\/p>\n<p>1. Corn gruel and tamales were reinforced with fish, seeds of various kinds, fruit, and honey.<\/p>\n<p>2. Beans were supplemented with meat from iguanas, armadillos, and rabbits.<\/p>\n<p>3. The calcium content of corn was (and still is) increased by alkaline cooking with lime (&#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nixtamalization\">nixtamalization<\/a>,&#8221; duh).<\/p>\n<p>4. &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/?gws_rd=ssl#q=pulque\">Pulque<\/a>&#8221; has &#8220;substantial food value,&#8221; &#8220;whether fermented or fresh.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>5. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=dried+red+maguey+worms&#038;biw=1280&#038;bih=581&#038;source=lnms&#038;tbm=isch&#038;sa=X&#038;ei=RzkYVfO0BdDsoATQ-oDgCA&#038;ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ#imgdii=_&#038;imgrc=9AIu8Xh_gYEiDM%253A%3BoQ6SBeCc4qwwOM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.mestizos.mx%252Feng%252Fwp-content%252Fuploads%252F2014%252F01%252Fgusanitosdemaguey.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.mestizos.mx%252Feng%252Fgaleria%252F%3B1300%3B864\">Dried red maguey worms<\/a> have 71 percent protein.<\/p>\n<p>6. Axayacatl (a species of aquatic insect sometimes called &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=axayacatl&#038;biw=1280&#038;bih=581&#038;source=lnms&#038;tbm=isch&#038;sa=X&#038;ei=5joYVcD_IJfloASE4oKwCg&#038;sqi=2&#038;ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ#tbm=isch&#038;q=axayacatl+water+boatmen\">water boatmen<\/a>&#8220;) have 68.7% protein.<\/p>\n<p>7. Mesquite pods and seeds have high caloric value.<\/p>\n<p>8. &#8220;<em>Tecuitlatl<\/em> (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=spirulina+green+pond&#038;biw=1280&#038;bih=581&#038;source=lnms&#038;tbm=isch&#038;sa=X&#038;ei=3DkYVeTDBoe0oQS8nIDgAg&#038;ved=0CAcQ_AUoAg\">spirulina<\/a>), the green scum collected from lakes with high saltwater content, was sold in the market to be eaten with chilies and tomatoes and has been shown to be a modern wonder food.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>As you can see, the world of food really could have evolved along very different lines.<\/p>\n<p>I also enjoyed this line from the book:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The fundamental belief that the gods sacrificed themselves to create the Earth and continued to do so to sustain it locked the gods and humans into a circular dependency \u2014 a relationship characterized by fearful respect coupled with regulated violence.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Definitely recommended, and oh yes that reminds me, here is <a href=\"http:\/\/marginalrevolution.com\/marginalrevolution\/2015\/03\/the-rsvp-and-livestream-for-my-conversations-with-peter-thiel-and-jeffrey-sachs.html\">the livestream for my chat later today with Peter Thiel<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/marginalrevolution.com\/marginalrevolution\/2015\/03\/the-aztec-diet-was-more-nutritious-than-it-may-seem-at-first.html\"><em>Originally posted on Marginal Revolution<\/em> &#8211; click to see comments and suggestions.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/6tyt47Unw1Y?rel=0&amp;controls=0&amp;showinfo=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/center><\/p>\n<h3 class='related_post_title'>Related Posts:<\/h3><ul class='related_post'><li><a href=\"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/la-tingeria\/\" title=\"La Tingeria\">La Tingeria<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/destino\/\" title=\"Destino\">Destino<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/taqueria-cancun\/\" title=\"Taqueria Cancun\">Taqueria Cancun<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/maiz64\/\" title=\"Maiz64\">Maiz64<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/las-gemelas\/\" title=\"Las Gemelas\">Las Gemelas<\/a><\/li><\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Colin M. MacLachlan, in his splendid Imperialism and the Origins of Mexican Culture, reports: 1. Corn gruel and tamales were reinforced with fish, seeds of various kinds, fruit, and honey. 2. Beans were supplemented with meat from iguanas, armadillos, and &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/the-aztec-diet-was-more-nutritious-than-it-may-seem-at-first\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1225,168,20,277],"tags":[1235,1230,1226,1228,1233,1227,1229,1236,1339,1381,1231,1237,1232,1234],"class_list":["post-3261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aztec","category-books","category-mexican","category-mexico","tag-6tyt47unw1y","tag-armadillos","tag-aztec","tag-beans","tag-colin-maclachlan","tag-corn","tag-iguanas","tag-mesquite","tag-mexican","tag-mexico","tag-rabbits","tag-spirulina","tag-tamales","tag-vhz-ekppqku"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3261"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3265,"href":"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3261\/revisions\/3265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}