Mayab Cuisine

The Mayab peninsula is home to many people but who nonetheless share some similar characteristics when it comes to their food. These ancient people first come into contact with the Carthaginians when they travelled further west after already setteling in Kubana and Ayti.
Eventually the Carthaginians settled along the coastline of the penisula where they still maintain good trading relations with the people deeper inside the peninsula. Some of the people of Mayab have even migrated to these new settlements which after some centuries has created a bit of a mixed culture with the Carthaginians taking over many cuisine habits.
The account below is written by the Carthaginian Hanno, sufet of Mayab

Cuisine

Mayab people

The Phoenician cities along the coastline of the Mayab peninsula were already founded many decades ago. Although it took time the relations between our people and the people of Mayab have only improved. I have travelled to several of their cities myself and was able to taste their cuisine first hand. Even though they do not form one nation the various inhabitants of the peninsula do share some common characteristics when it comes to their food.
Most of their food is grown in either forest gardens, which they call pet kot, or plots of fields. However even when growing their food in fields much more respect is maintained for nature than the methods we use for our agriculture. Here they grow things such as long green beans, the spicy chillis that I grew to like, the fruits known as p’aaks and the ahuacatls. The ahuacatl, a word derived from people to the west, are apparently named after testicles. They do look like it from the outside, but I can assure you they taste great. But none are as important for their culture as ixi’im and kakaw.
As for meat the people of Mayab use animals that they hunt such as deer and monkeys. But the strange looking uulum bird is their main domesticated animal for food.

by kefkejaco with midjourney

by kefkejaco with midjourney

Ixi’im

Ixi’im is an important food source for the people of the peninsula in the same way that grain is for us. But this importance goes even deeper as the Mayab people's mythology tells them that they were orginally made from ixi’im. White ixi’im was used for the bones, yellow ixi’im for the muscles, black ixi’im for the eyes and hair, and red ixi’im for the blood. It therefore is not only food but also who they are.
It can also be used in great variety of ways. The one I encountered the most and also enjoyed was the creation of waajs, made from ixi’im dough. They create this by washing the ixi’im kernels in lime water after which it is grounded up into a dough. The results is then cooked on a comal, a sort of wide pan, and filled with a variety of things such as meats, beans or other vegtables.

Kakaw

The beans known as kakaw are considered to be sacred as well by the people Mayab. Although all people can use it, the elite of the various cities is much more likely to consume kakaw as it is a harder plant to grow. It is is considered to be the food of the gods and is sometimes offered in sacrifices.
The kakaw beans can be used in food but it is actually most commonly used in a drinks. It is both an aphrodisiac and an energetic drink which is likely the reason why it is so popular for wedding ceremonies. One version of this drink is more commonly used by the elite and is known as xocolatl. For this drink grounded kakaw are mixed with chillis and honey to make it more delicious.
Given my position I have had the option to test both the usual drink and the xocolatl, which is the one I prefer. The beans in itself can be quite bitter but with the added sweetness of the honey in the xocolatl drink softens its taste.

by kefkejaco with midjourney

Words used

Native words are used for several foods mentioned in the text above. Translations for these can be found below.

Kakaw

This refers to the cacao beans.

Waaj

This is the native word for tortillas.

Uulum

Native word for turkey birds.

Ahuacatls

The Nahuatl word for avocados.

P’aak

Native word for tomatoes, these did not yet have the reddish colour.

Ixi’im

Old word for maize or corn