Mexican cooking is so steeped in tradition that the country’s government has previously tried to persuade UNESCO (the United Nations’ cultural wing) to give Mexican cuisine official status as ‘A Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity’. This might sound like quite a grand title for something you or I would call ‘dinner’, but they have a point.


Mexico is very proud of its pre-European culinary heritage, and many of the techniques, dishes, and words used today are hundreds and hundreds of years old. Indeed, Nahuatl, the ancient language of the Aztecs, has given us not the English words for avocado (from ahuacatl), chocolate (from xoco(l)atl), and tomato (from (xi)tomatl).


During the Mayan era agriculture thrived, and the ruling priests allocated land for growing corn, beans, chillies and peppers, as well as avocados, tomatoes and sweet potatoes – and in many ways little has changed – those ingredients are the basis for so much of the Mexican cooking we know today. After the Mayan period the rise of the warlike Aztecs in the 15th century meant that the organised distribution of corn and vegetables was over. Aztec rulers kept the best for themselves, including chocolate, a prized food considered fit only for royalty. When the Spanish invaded the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan in 1519 they discovered the famous Aztec leader Moctezuma II was very partial to a frothy drink concocted from vanilla and chocolate, and sweetened with honey.


During the years that followed the invasion, the Spanish, led by Hernán Cortés, proceeded to dismantle the Aztec civilisation and convert the pagan indigenous Mexican population to Catholicism. When Spanish missionaries came across the vast ocean they were carrying more than just bibles – they also brought seeds, nuts, apples, olive oil, coriander, wheat, rice and onions, all of which have become essential parts of the Mexican kitchen – not to mention pigs, sheep, cattle, and chickens.


Mexican cooking is changing all the time, and some traditionalists are worried about the increasing prominence of burger chains and other fast food in the big cities – but this most historic of culinary cultures is bound to persevere. In fact, next time you’re having a cup of hot chocolate, remember that about 500 years ago Moctezuma II was standing in his Aztec palace enjoying exactly the same delicious beverage.