Corn, Tlaolli, Zea Mays

If we consider the cereals consumed in the world in order to make a division, it would have three regions: one for wheat, another one for rice and the third one for corn.

The corn region extends from the north of Mexico to the north of South America. Contrasting with Christian traditions, which say men were created with clay, men and women were made with corn for Olmecas, Mayas, Nahuas and their descendants in Middle America; they consider themselves works of the gods that created them with corn. The Popol Vuh, sacred book of Mayans, says that the gods had several attempts: first, they tried to mold the first man with soil, but that material was too ordinary; then they tried with wood but the result was a man that had no soil. At the end, they decided to use corn. So corn was inherited from our ancestors. “Their flesh was made with white and yellow corn, their arms and legs were made with corn dough. Only corn was used in our parent´s flesh”.

Nowadays, corn is still the main ingredient in the diet of more than ninety millions of Mexicans and all of its parts are eaten: the Xilote or ear (fresh corn), the “hair” or fiber used for tea, the worms (mostly found in the cacahuazintle kind of corn) are toasted on a comal and are eaten in tacos, corn honey is made with the tender canes, and the cuitlacochin or cuitlacoche is a fungus that is also cooked and eaten and the dry grains are the base for tortillas, tamales, atoles, pinole, and even drinks.