Mexico’s Gifts to the World
I wish there was a YouTube video of the dishes that came out of Moctezuma’s royal court kitchen in 1519, when the Spaniards were served their first lavish meal in Tenochtitlan. You know, the kind of YouTube videos you see from every Michelin-starred restaurant—the ones that start with the arrival of pristine produce and meat, capture each step of preparation, and celebrate the over-the-top presentations.
I would like to see the mounds of aromatic herbs and flowers that were delivered each day. How exactly did the beautiful tomatoes and chiles, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds look as they were griddle-roasted and ground in stone mortars or metates. Tomatillos would have been a new taste to the Europeans, and avocados too. But I want to know how quickly they had to get peeled avocados to the emperor, so there wasn’t a hint of discoloration.
I know the royal court had a separate kitchen just to prepare the special corn for the emperor’s tortillas and tamales, and to simmer the black (and red and tan) beans for his daily breakfast. I’m sure there was another kitchen for handling the ceremonial chocolate drink perfumed with vanilla. The aroma there must have been incredible.
Though these ingredients are now common the world over, I can’t imagine what it would be like to have tasted them for the first time, as those European mercenaries did at the emperor’s elegant banquet table.
We invite you to adopt a beginners mind, open your taste buds anew and experience Mexico’s Gifts to the world.
