[Aztlan] 10 Maya foods that changed the world's eating habits

[John E. Staller]

You're quite right Dave,
The common tomato  (Solanum lycopersicum L) is native to South  
America where seven wild species have been identified, ranging from  
Ecuador into Chile. There is no evidence that I am aware of in either  
Peru or Ecuador that tomatoes were cultivated or consumed in  
prehistoric times. There is however evidence that the earliest  
domesticated tomato (S. lycopersicum) was a little yellow fruit   
grown by the Aztec.  Husk tomatoes have been identified  
archaeologically in the Tehuacán highlands in levels dated to between  
AD 825-1225.  The contemporary word "tomate" has more ancient Mexican  
roots, where apparently one of two “wild” species still grow, and  
this term and "tomatillo" designate husk tomatoes, while "jitomate"  
denotes the common tomato. The Aztec called the common tomato  
"xitomatl" which means "plump fruit" or "plump thing with a navel"  
while the general Nahuatl term for husk tomatoes was "miltomatl."  
Some 16th century pre-Linnaean herbals refer to tomatoes as "golden  
apples" or "apple of love", the former presumably because of the  
color, and the latter because of a perceived association with Greco- 
Roman mythology.
John E. Staller
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> On Aug 26, 2009, at 3:59 PM, dlbrowma at artsci.wustl.edu wrote:
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>> All
>>
>> The "10 Maya foods" aren't, in a real sense.
>>
>> That is squash is a generic term.  There are as early if not  
>> earlier squash
>> varieties in the Andes.  As well, one of the examples given was  
>> 'pumpkins'.
>> Pumpkins were domesticated n the SE U.S., not Mesoamerica.
>>
>> Chile peppers also are rather generic.  There are Andean varieties  
>> domesticated
>> as early if not earlier than the ones in Mesoamerica.
>>
>> Which avocado?  There were two major domestication - one in  
>> Mesoamerica, and one
>> in the Andes.
>>
>> Black beans: very slippery slope.  While the specific subvariety  
>> seems to have
>> Yucatecan linkages, the plant itself is found early in both North  
>> and South America.
>>
>> The sweet potato is certainly much earlier in South America than  
>> Mesoamerica.
>>
>> Ecuadorian folk claim their variety of tomato is the earliest.   
>> And so on.
>>
>> It would be much better to call these "New World" rather than  
>> "Maya", since
>> several of them have no Maya antecedents.
>>
>> Dave Browman
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