Maya Vegan Foods
by Odette Olivares, MS
Many traditional cultures use plant foods to increase the variety of their meals. Mexican indigenous dishes, such as those that are a part of Maya cuisine, are an example. Although not traditionally vegan, Maya cuisine, includes many options for plant-based dishes and exemplifies the appetizing flavors of a vegan diet.
Maya Culture and Traditions
The Maya civilization is one of the most important in Latin America because of its advancements in mathematics, astronomy, architecture, and medicine. From 1800 BCE to 1600 CE, Maya occupied the area of today's states of Campeche, Chiapas, Quintana Roo, and Yucatán in Mexico and the countries of Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.1 Maya were the first civilization to use the concept of zero as a symbol of the beginning and end of a cycle. They created a complex and precise calendar based on the cycles of the moon, the sun, and other planets.2 Their knowledge of astronomy contributed to the architecture of their pyramids and temples, which are rich in impressive visual effects. In medicine, Maya explored the vast variety of plants in their region and used them to create numerous herbal remedies.3
Despite Maya living in a dangerous environment with threats from insects, other animals, and diseases, they learned to appreciate and respect nature and avoided its destruction as much as possible. Maya agricultural practices used rituals and ceremonies to honor deities and aluxes, guardian spirits of the forest who protected milpas (the cultivated fields).4 Today, Maya communities continue to respect nature and to follow the principle of living in harmony with it.
Maya Foods and Beverages
The diet of Maya is omnivorous, but plant foods are prominent. Similar to indigenous staple foods of Mexico and Latin America, the base of Maya cuisine is corn, nixtamalized corn masa (similar to cornmeal), Cucurbita squash or gourd, pepitas or squash seeds, beans, cacao, sweet potato, cassava, makal or taro, and hot peppers. Distinctive foods of the Maya area are chaya leaves, bitter orange, and achiote or annatto.
Maya use nixtamalization, the process of adding a 1% lime (calcium hydroxide) solution to corn, to make foods made with corn or cornmeal easier to digest and add flavor. Lime increases the calcium content of corn by approximately 20-fold, going from 8 milligrams of calcium in a cup of non-nixtamalized corn flour to around 157 milligrams in a cup of nixtamalized corn flour!5 Niacin (vitamin B3), already present in corn, is made available to be absorbed by nixtamalization. When Spaniards imported corn to Europe, they did not bring the tradition of nixtamalization, which resulted in an increased risk of pellagra, a disease caused by niacin deficiency. Additionally, nixtamalization makes essential amino acids easier to absorb.6
Another cooking technique that the Maya developed is píib, a method of food preparation using an underground oven that slowly cooks food. The first step is to dig a hole, from a few inches to a yard deep in the sand or the soil, and place a palm leaf at the bottom. Firewood and stones are the second layer, followed by food wrapped in banana leaves. The wood is ignited. When the stones get hot, everything is covered in a layer of soil. Even if this layer of soil extinguishes the fire, the stones will preserve heat.7
Every dish cooked with píib gets the píib word in its name. Corn píib is a special dish offered in a ceremony to aluxes so they will protect milpas. Corn is buried for three days and gets offered on an altar placed at milpas. After the prayers to aluxes, all the family can eat the corn pí.4
A fundamental ingredient of Maya cuisine is chaya, the leaves of a chaya tree, which is native to Tabasco and the Yucatán Peninsula. Chaya leaves are high in vitamins C and A, iron, calcium, and protein. They must be cooked for at least 15 minutes to inactivate a toxic substance similar to cyanide. Also known as spinach tree or Maya spinach, chaya trees grow wild in almost any humid, sunny, and warm place. Chaya leaves accompany corn and squash seeds in soups, tamales, or casseroles and are tasty.8
A touch of bitter orange, a citrus fruit, and its leaves add a typical taste to several Maya recipes. Bitter orange is used in beverages, píibs, legume casseroles, and other dishes.
Achiote is the prickly red seed derived from the achiote tree, a tree native to tropical regions from Mexico to Brazil. Achiote is known as annatto, from the Kariña language of indigenous people living in Venezuela and Brazil. Maya used it to paint murals in their pyramids and temples and to adorn their bodies for ritual ceremonies. It is still used as a food colorant. Today, it is also an ingredient in famous Yucatan foods, including salbutes (puffed, deep-fried corn tortilla with toppings) and red recado (a seasoning paste).9
The great news about pre-Hispanic Maya dishes is that you can find a wide variety that are entirely vegan! From beverages and soups to legume-based foods and candies, you can prepare indulgent vegan meals using traditional ingredients.
The eggs and lard used in traditional recipes are easy to replace with vegan products. For example, panuchos is a popular Hispanic Maya recipe of Yucatan tradition made of black beans, onions, epazote or Mexican tea, bitter orange, habanero pepper, corn flour, and lard to fry the beans. Their shape resembles tostadas with a tortilla underneath and beans above it, but they are softer than tostadas. You can easily replace the lard with vegetpanuchos' superb flavor.
Pre-Hispanic Maya used black beans as did many other indigenous groups in Mexico. Scarlet runner beans or frijoles verdes became distinctive to Maya cuisine. Most scarlet runner bean plants have red flowers and purplish mottled seeds. Toc-sel de ib'es is a nutritious, legume-based food made with scarlet runner beans, squash seeds, scallions, and epazote, an herb with a pungent flavor.4
Everyday beverages include atoles, warm and tasty drinks based on cooked corn flour. The simplest is corn flour atole (masa atole), prepared with only corn flour, sugar, and water. Atole de pinole adds cinnamon and aniseed to toasted corn flour and sugar.4
Another type of beverage is pozol. Pozoles contain corn and are drunk cold. Pozole chorriado is a delicious combination of corn, honey, and cacao.4 You can replace honey with agave syrup or another vegan sweetener of your preference.
Although certain beverages are no longer widely used for religious purposes as they were in the past,10 they can still be enjoyed. Choko Sakán, made of corn flour and bitter orange leaves, is an example of this kind of beverage. Balché was another sacred beverage. It was made of the bark of the balché tree, ground corn, honey (easily replaceable with agave syrup), and toasted cacao seeds. This beverage was put in 13 little pitchers and offered by a priest to aluxes in the Janli Kol celebration, a ceremony of thankfulness for the ripening of corn.4,10 In contrast to some beliefs of contemporary societies, the number 13 was sacred for Maya.
Changes Come to the Maya Civilization
Despite Maya greatness, around 1000 CE, the great fall happened. Political and cultural activities in big cities declined, governing dynasties fled, and the population diminished drastically. Recently it was discovered that this was a gradual process; however, its reasons are still unknown. Some hypotheses are overpopulation, agricultural crisis, disruption of the ecological equilibrium, hunger, and malnutrition, which might have worsened political conflicts. The few Maya who remained were conquered by other minor indigenous groups and later by the Spaniards. They showed incredible endurance to preserve their lands and culture, for example, in the armed uprisings of 1712 and 1867 in Chiapas, against the New Spain government.1, 3
Today they keep fighting to preserve their identities and traditions but in a different way. The survival of a repertory of Mayan words in the urban culture of Merida, Yucatán, and a cookbook written by the group of Maya women from the Dzitbalché community are examples of this resilience.4
Maya foods reveal the knowledge of a living culture that discovered goodness in nature and learned how fundamental it was not to forget to be grateful.
References
1 de la Garza Camino M. El Legado Escrito de los Mayas. Mexico City, Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Económica; 2012.
2 Smithsonian Institution. El sistema del calendario Maya. Living Maya Time. 2022. www.maya.nmai.si.edu
3 Pallán Gayol C. Breve Historia de los Mayas. Madrid, Spain: Ediciones Nowtilus; 2011.
4 May DS. Recetario Maya de Campeche, Cocina Indígena y Popular. Campeche, México: Programa de Acciones Culturales MultilingüComunitarias (PACMyC); 2016.
5 U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central. 2019. fdc.nal.usda.gov
6 González Amaro RM. Nixtamal: tradición y nutrición. INECOL. 2021. www.inecol.mx/inecol/index.php/es/2013-06-05-10-34-10/17-ciencia-hoy/1203-nixtamaltradicion-y-nutricion
7 Campos García M. Explorar y comer en la peninsula de Yucatá siglo XIX. Península. 2021;16(1).
8 Secretaría de Agricultura y Desarrollo Rural. La Chaya, espinaca maya. Gobierno de México. 2016. www.gob.mx/agricultura/articulos/la-chaya-espinaca-maya
9 Secretaría de Agricultura y Desarrollo Rural. Cinco cosas que debes conocer del achiote. Gobierno de México. 2017. www.gob.mx/agricultura/es/articulos/cinco-cosas-que-debes-conocer-del-achiote
10 Terán S, Rasmussen C. La Milpa De Los Mayas. La Agricultura De Los Mayas Prehispánicos y Actuales En El Noroeste De Yucatán. Mexico City, Mexico: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; 2009.
Odette is a Mexican plant-based nutritionist and professor at Anáhuac University, Mexico. She is passionate about spreading the benefits of plant-based nutrition on human and planetary health, social justice, and ethics.
