Editing Mexican cuisine (section)

===Pre-Hispanic period===
{{See also|Aztec cuisine}}
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   | image1    =Mayan people and chocolate.jpg
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   | caption1  = A [[Maya civilization|Maya]] lord sits before an individual with a container of frothed [[chocolate]]
   | image2    = Guacomole.jpg
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   | caption2  = [[Guacamole]] ([[Nahuatl]] ''āhuacamolli''), an avocado-based sauce that began in pre-Hispanic Mexico
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[[File:Tool_(metate)-UBC_2010.jpg|thumb|left|A native American grinder stone tool or "[[metate]]" from Central Mexico]]
Around 7000 BCE, the indigenous peoples of Mexico and Central America hunted [[Game (hunting)|game]] and gathered [[Plant-based diet|plants]], including wild [[chili pepper]]s. Corn was not yet cultivated, so one main source of calories was roasted [[agave]] hearts. By 1200 BCE, corn was domesticated and a process called [[nixtamalization]], or treatment with lye, was developed to soften corn for grinding and improve its nutritional value. This allowed the creation of tortillas and other kinds of flat breads.<ref name="sharpe">{{cite journal |last=Sharpe |first=Patricia |date=December 2004 |title=More Mexican—It's About Time; Mexican food through the ages. |journal=Texas Monthly |volume=32 |issue=12 |page=1}}</ref> The indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica have numerous stories about the origin of corn, usually related to being a gift of one or more gods, such as [[Quetzalcoatl]].<ref name="luengas2728">Luengas, pp. 27-28.</ref>

The other staple was beans, eaten with corn and some other plants as a complementary protein. Other protein sources included [[amaranth]], [[domesticated turkey]], insects such as grasshoppers, beetles and ant larvae, [[iguana]]s, and turtle eggs on the coastlines.<ref name="luengas30">Luengas, p. 30.</ref> Vegetables included squash and their seeds; [[chilacayote]]; [[jicama]], a kind of sweet potato; and [[edible flower]]s, especially those of squash. The chili pepper was used as food, ritual and as medicine.<ref name="luengas30"/>

When the Spanish arrived, the [[Aztec]]s had sophisticated [[agricultural]] techniques and an abundance of food, which was the base of their economy. It allowed them to expand an empire, bringing in [[tribute]] which consisted mostly of foods the Aztecs could not grow themselves.<ref name="adapon8"/> According to [[Bernardino de Sahagún]], the [[Nahua peoples]] of central Mexico ate corn, beans, turkey, fish, small game, insects and a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, [[pulses]], seeds, [[tubers]], wild [[Edible mushroom|mushrooms]], plants and [[herbs]] that they collected or cultivated.<ref name="adapon9">Adapon, p. 9.</ref>