What did Maya people eat?

What was Maya food like?

A Maya woman in a colourful dress is cooking round pieces of dough on a big hot pan over a fire inside a small wooden hut. There is a basket of eggs on a nearby table. — Image caption,
Cooking traditional foods helps many Maya people today to understand their culture and pass it on.

The Maya ate lots of different foods. They got their food by farming, hunting and foraging plants that grew in the wild.

One very special plant for the Maya was the cacao tree, they used its seeds to make chocolate.

Some of the foods the Maya ate are still eaten across the world today.

Important words for the Maya Civilisation

Keyword	Definition
Archaeologist	People who dig up and uncover artefacts to help understand the past.
Cacao bean	The seed of the cacao tree, which is used to make chocolate.
Farming	Using land to grow crops or raise animals for food.
Foraging	Searching for and gathering food from wild plants.
Hunting	Searching for and catching animals for food.
Maize	A grain that grows on a tall plant. Also known as corn.
Tree-cropping	Growing crops on or around trees.

Where did food come from?

There were lots of different Maya foods. The food was produced by:

hunting
foraging - gathering food from wild plants
farming

Most of the Maya food was grown in the fields or gardens. These were known as pet kot from the circular wall of stones that the gardens were built upon.
Many Maya foods are still prepared and eaten today.

What food was eaten most?

Ancient Maya diet was mostly maize, squash and beans.

These were known as the Three Sisters.

Chilli peppers were popular.

Of these, maize was most popular.

It was ground up and used to make tortillas to wrap meat and beans in.

Chilli peppers, tomatoes, avocado, pineapple, pumpkin and sweet potatoes were grown by tree-cropping.

Deer, armadillo, monkeys, turtle and iguana were all hunted.

Fish, lobsters and shrimps were caught by fishing in the sea.

What was the most special food?

Image caption,
A red cocoa pod hanging from a cocoa tree

Cacao beans, also known as cocoa beans, were used by the Maya to make chocolate. They grew on the Theobroma cacao tree, which the Maya people were the first to grow for food.

Cacao was seen as a gift from the gods.

The Maya made a bitter chocolate drink, which was drunk at wedding ceremonies.

The Maya believed the first humans were crafted from an ear of corn, so they thought maize was the food of creation.

How do we know what the Maya ate?

A brown, barrel‑shaped clay pot with carved patterns on the outside. The designs look like simple shapes and faces. The pot is standing on a small white platform in a museum. — Image caption,
Archaeologists often use food remains from pottery to figure the food the Maya ate or what they grew and stored.

Even though the Maya lived so long ago, archaeologists can still find clues to help understand the past.

When archaeologists dig up soil, tiny pieces of ancient plants, such as seeds, can be found through sieving.

Tiny plant remains can also be found on old pottery that people cooked with or stored food in.

Archaeologists can also use other clues, such as Maya art, which shows plants and farming.

All of these clues help archaeologists understand what the Maya grew and ate.

Think like a historian

Light blue thought bubble that says Thinking Points!

Have a look at the thinking points below and think about your answer to each question. You could even write them down on a piece of paper or discuss them with somebody else if you want to.

Why do you think maize was the one of the Maya’s most important foods?
Why do you think is it important that archaeologists have found tiny bits of ancient plants or pottery which shows ancient Maya farming?
Why do you think cacao was important to the Maya and was believed to be a food from the gods?