Stable Food Supply:
The Mayan food was very healthy and had a lot of protein and nutrition. This is why many Mayans were very healthy and strong. Maize was a major crop, one of the staple food, and were grown in farms. Beans was also a big protein source. The Mayans ate a lot of vegetables, including squash, pumpkin, manioc, tomato, sweet potato, etc. Their fruits were, avocado, papaya, and guava, etc. These fruits were collected in rainforests in the society. It was very important for them to have rainforests, because they gathered and collected fruit to eat from the forests. They were also one of the few civilizations in Mesoamerica that knew how to make chocolate from cacao beans. Their chocolate was much more bitter and strong flavored though, in contrast with our sweet, milky chocolate.
The Mayan way was to make methods for specific needs of a certain area. Mayans were among the first to practice crop rotation, a very important way to avoid soil exhaustion.
They also had a special way of preparing maize. After drying the maize kernels, they soaked it in water and lime to make it more nutritious. The pastry result was then ground and used to make tortillas, which is a type of Mexican food. Cooked beans were put inside the tortilla and it became a burrito. A burrito was special Mayan food.
It is believed that popcorn was invented from maize. Popcorn is another Mayan invention! Ground maize could also be turned into a liquid form as gruel. Meat was not usually in the diet, but Mayans still ate meat once in a while. Turkey that they found in the forests were most common, but if there were no turkey, than they hunted whatever animals they could find, like rabbits and monkeys. As you can see, the Mayans were practically vegetarians. Fish and seafood was only food to Mayan societies living near water, but still, it was salted and transported to other city-states if necessary.
The Mayans also had some spices and seasonings. Chili was found in the two Americas, and was used a lot by the Mayans. They also used honey for a sweetener for their food, which shows evidence of beekeeping.
Agriculture was also performed in Maya. The Mayans had nicely managed fields and irrigated farmlands. When the Maya needed to feed people desperately, they used their emergency strategy, raising crops on hills and bumpy mountains. It was possible for the Mayans. They first smoothed the land out by digging and patting the dirt flat, then they planted crops and waited for their crops to grow! They could connect their irrigation systems to the new farmlands very easily for some reason that we do not know.
The agricultural products of the Maya were: Corn, maize, squash, beans, tomato, chili peppers, avocado, papaya, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, vanilla, peanuts, pineapple, chocolate, vanilla, cinnamon, etc! No one knows how the Mayan grew all this food, but they sure did!
Mayans did have a few difficult struggles with their water management. Most of the Mayan civilization was on Yucatan peninsula, which had a very difficult natural environment. Mayans had a hard time surviving for quite a time. For 6 months, there was heavy rain, which caused a gigantic flood to hit the civilization, causing crops to wash away and farms to get destroyed. Houses and buildings were often ruined as well. The civilization lived a hard period for 6 months.
For the other half of the year, heavy drought came, which killed the remaining crops, (If there were any left) and caused the civilization to have a water shortage. The civilization decided that they needed to develop solutions if they wanted to keep on surviving and living on the peninsula. They developed water systems that collected water when the heavy rain came and stored it for a long time until the droughts came, then they used the water for crops and the people.
Some of the water systems were, underground water trenches, watersheds, wells, etc. No one knows how they stopped their farmland and civilization from becoming flooded, but they did do it, and the farmlands grew delicious crops for the civilization to eat, and the civilization flourished. The food supply of the Mayans were quite healthy, and they were very smart to think of a way to store water and stop water from coming!
The Mayan food was very healthy and had a lot of protein and nutrition. This is why many Mayans were very healthy and strong. Maize was a major crop, one of the staple food, and were grown in farms. Beans was also a big protein source. The Mayans ate a lot of vegetables, including squash, pumpkin, manioc, tomato, sweet potato, etc. Their fruits were, avocado, papaya, and guava, etc. These fruits were collected in rainforests in the society. It was very important for them to have rainforests, because they gathered and collected fruit to eat from the forests. They were also one of the few civilizations in Mesoamerica that knew how to make chocolate from cacao beans. Their chocolate was much more bitter and strong flavored though, in contrast with our sweet, milky chocolate.
The Mayan way was to make methods for specific needs of a certain area. Mayans were among the first to practice crop rotation, a very important way to avoid soil exhaustion.
They also had a special way of preparing maize. After drying the maize kernels, they soaked it in water and lime to make it more nutritious. The pastry result was then ground and used to make tortillas, which is a type of Mexican food. Cooked beans were put inside the tortilla and it became a burrito. A burrito was special Mayan food.
It is believed that popcorn was invented from maize. Popcorn is another Mayan invention! Ground maize could also be turned into a liquid form as gruel. Meat was not usually in the diet, but Mayans still ate meat once in a while. Turkey that they found in the forests were most common, but if there were no turkey, than they hunted whatever animals they could find, like rabbits and monkeys. As you can see, the Mayans were practically vegetarians. Fish and seafood was only food to Mayan societies living near water, but still, it was salted and transported to other city-states if necessary.
The Mayans also had some spices and seasonings. Chili was found in the two Americas, and was used a lot by the Mayans. They also used honey for a sweetener for their food, which shows evidence of beekeeping.
Agriculture was also performed in Maya. The Mayans had nicely managed fields and irrigated farmlands. When the Maya needed to feed people desperately, they used their emergency strategy, raising crops on hills and bumpy mountains. It was possible for the Mayans. They first smoothed the land out by digging and patting the dirt flat, then they planted crops and waited for their crops to grow! They could connect their irrigation systems to the new farmlands very easily for some reason that we do not know.
The agricultural products of the Maya were: Corn, maize, squash, beans, tomato, chili peppers, avocado, papaya, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, vanilla, peanuts, pineapple, chocolate, vanilla, cinnamon, etc! No one knows how the Mayan grew all this food, but they sure did!
Mayans did have a few difficult struggles with their water management. Most of the Mayan civilization was on Yucatan peninsula, which had a very difficult natural environment. Mayans had a hard time surviving for quite a time. For 6 months, there was heavy rain, which caused a gigantic flood to hit the civilization, causing crops to wash away and farms to get destroyed. Houses and buildings were often ruined as well. The civilization lived a hard period for 6 months.
For the other half of the year, heavy drought came, which killed the remaining crops, (If there were any left) and caused the civilization to have a water shortage. The civilization decided that they needed to develop solutions if they wanted to keep on surviving and living on the peninsula. They developed water systems that collected water when the heavy rain came and stored it for a long time until the droughts came, then they used the water for crops and the people.
Some of the water systems were, underground water trenches, watersheds, wells, etc. No one knows how they stopped their farmland and civilization from becoming flooded, but they did do it, and the farmlands grew delicious crops for the civilization to eat, and the civilization flourished. The food supply of the Mayans were quite healthy, and they were very smart to think of a way to store water and stop water from coming!