Food of the Americas
Before 1492, the Americas fed great civilisations on maize, beans, squash, chiles and chocolate — and pioneered techniques like nixtamalization and freeze-drying. Discover the sophisticated, largely plant-based kitchens of the Aztec and Andean worlds, and the foods they gave the world.
Frequently asked questions
- What did the Aztecs eat?
- The Aztec diet was built on maize (as tortillas and tamales), beans, squash, chiles and amaranth, supplemented with insects, fish and the occasional turkey or dog. Chocolate was a prized drink, not a sweet.
- Which foods did the Americas give the world?
- An astonishing share of the modern pantry: maize, potatoes, tomatoes, chiles, chocolate, vanilla, beans, squash, peanuts and chia all came from the pre-Columbian Americas and remade cuisines everywhere after 1492.
- What did people eat in the Andes before the potato spread?
- Andean kitchens drew on hundreds of potato varieties alongside quinoa, oca, ulluco, freeze-dried chuño and camelid meat — a mountain larder adapted to altitude long before the potato went global.