Montezuma, the great Aztec emperor, was previously warned that one day bearded men mounted on animals like giant deer would come to take over his domain, so when Montezuma heard that men had landed at Vera Cruz he was not surprised. He made every effort to keep them in Vera Cruz by offering them great riches, but after seeing the riches it spurred them on to see where the riches came from. On November 8, 1519, Cortez entered Montezuma's capitol along with seven thousand native soldiers he had recruited along the way. He was received by Montezuma and given a great feast, but the cordial relations between the Spanish captain and the Aztec emperor were short lived. After many bloody battles, on August 13th 1521, Cortez claimed the capitol. The conquerors systematically destroyed the Aztec empire and replaced it with Spanish structures and Institutions, but they never succeeded in extinguishing the native culture and traditions, which are still part of Mexico today.

Mexican Food
Mexican food varies by region, because of local climate and geography and ethnic differences among the indigenous inhabitants and because these different populations were influenced by the Spaniards in varying degrees. The north of Mexico is known for its beef production and meat dishes; southeastern Mexico, on the other hand, is known for its spicy vegetable and chicken-based dishes.

Mexican cuisine was constantly enriched from many different countries. Recipes and ingredients from Africa, South America, Caribbean, France and the orient found there way through the Spanish - Mexico conduit.

Early Methods of Mexican Cooking
Mexican natives did not have ovens so everything was heated over an open fire. They used cast iron pots and pans and also ceramic ware. Another method used was steaming. Barbacoa was made by steaming meat suspended over boiling water in a deep pit. The meat was often wrapped in cactus or banana leaves. Frying was also a popular method of cooking. Tasty items like taquitos, flautas and chimichangas are a few examples of this method.

Traditional Mexican Cooking Tools
Several traditional Mexican cooking tools are mentioned below, including: the "Molcajete", "Metate y Mano" and the Mexican Molinillo.

Mortar and Pestle
A mortar is a bowl shaped container made of a hard wood, marble, pottery, or stone. The pestle is a bat shaped tool that is used to grind inside the mortar (bowl) and pulverize grains, herbs, and other food substances as well as medicines.

Italian frescoes of the 15th Century show Mortars and Pestles in use by Apothecaries (ancient Pharmacists). The Molcajete, or Mexican version of the mortar and pestle appears in Mexican pre-history in the Tehuacán Valley, as early as the discovery of our hybridized present-day corn, 6,000 years ago.

Mano or "Metate y Mano"
This tool is related in lineage to the molcajete. The word metate comes from the Nahuatl word metlatl. The rolling-pin shaped grinding tool is called in Nahuatl a metlapil which means son of metate but in Spanish it is referred to as a mano. The metate is used to grind corn and for mashing ingredients to make salsas and purees. According to Deann and Rick Bayless in their book Authentic Mexican: Regional Cooking, the metate was "The last of the techniques that set Mexican cooking apart is the grinding. It began millennia ago with corn crushed on a rock slab (metate) to make the dough for tortillas. The slab proved good for grinding rehydrated chiles, for nuts and seeds, for cacao beans and even the tender curds of fresh cheese".

The traditional Aztec metate was a slanted slab with three short legs. The Mayan version sits flat on the ground with a slightly indented top grinding surface. Metates are rarely used today and have been replaced in the home by hand corn grinders and electric blenders.

Mexican Molinillo
The molinillo [moh-lee-NEE-yoh] is the Mexican chocolate "whisk" or "stirrer". It is made of "turned" wood and it is used to froth warm drinks such as hot chocolate, Atole, and Champurrado.

Mexican Pottery Cooking Pots
Clay has been traditionally used in Mexican cooking because the clay imparts a specific flavor to the food that can't be reproduced in a metal pot. However, due to the documented health hazards, lead glazed clay pots are no longer recommended for use.

Popular Mexican Dishes
There are many popular Mexican dishes that are based on pre-Hispanic traditions, including the Aztecs and Maya, combined with culinary trends introduced by Spanish colonists. The indigenous part of this and many other traditional food is the chile pepper. Foods like these tend to be very colorful because of the rich variety of vegetables including: chili peppers, green peppers, chilies, broccoli, cauliflower, and radishes. There is also a Caribbean influence in Mexican cuisine, particularly in some regional dishes from the states of Veracruz and Yucatan. The French occupation of Mexico also yielded some influences such as the bolillo.

Guacamole & Mole
Guacamole dates back to the Aztecs. The Aztecs referred to guacamole as ahuaca-mulli which translates roughly to avocado sauce or avocado mixture. Avocado is the main ingredient in guacamole that became very popular with the Spaniards. It is said the Spaniards liked their avocados three ways, with salt, with sugar or both. Although actual guacamole recipes were not well document, the Spaniards did document their partiality for the avocado fruit. The Aztecs believed the avocado to be an aphrodisiac. Another reason for the popularity of the fruit is the fact that the avocado has the highest fat content of any fruit. The Aztecs had a very low fat diet compared with today's standards, therefore a fruit that contained life sustaining fats and protein were very important to their diet.

Guacamole is a sauce made primarily of avocado with various additions depending on the region of Mexico where the guacamole is made. Guacamole is traditionally made from avocado, white onion, serrano chiles, tomatoes, sea salt and cilantro. First of course is the avocado, then onion, chiles, and fresh tomatoes and salt.

Flan
The name "Flan" begins with a word in old French "flaon", which comes from Latin "flado" meaning "custard". According to Alan Davidson, Oxford Food Companion " The same Latin root was used in the Middle English word "flaton", and "flawn" which later became "flan". The roots of Flan and custards date back to Medieval times. This eggy course is mentioned in both Ancient Roman and Medieval European food history. Most likely early flans were savory but we there are also many sweet versions.

Flan is commonly used as a term to describe the Spanish, Portuguese or Mexican version of Creme Caramel. Flan is typically baked in a water bath and turned out of its mold onto a plate for serving. In England the term usually refers to a crust with either a sweet or savory filling. The crust is formed and baked in a flan ring, cooled and filled. The sweet filling frequently includes a custard. Flan is common in Spain, Mexico as well as Europe and U.S. In many countries such as Mexico, Spain, and Cuba it is customary to make flan in a special pan (mold) over a bain marie (water bath). The molds are fitted with a lid that clips on securely. The custard can be prepared on the cooktop or in the oven.

Quesadillas
Quesadillas are one of the mainstays of Mexico's street-side stands, and are considered quintessential Mexican. The corn tortilla on which quesadillas are based is Native American; the cheese, as well as the pork, and/or beef that may accompany the cheese, is Spanish; of the garnish, the hot-sauce made with chili pepper is indigenous, but the shredded lettuce is Spanish.

"Quesadillas are one of the Mexicans' favorite simple snacks. They are, in fact, uncooked tortillas stuffed with one of various fillings and folded over to make a "turnover." They are then toasted on a hot griddle or fried until golden. In many parts of Mexico they are filled with strips of Chihuahua cheese, which melts and "strings". Quesadillas become more complicated as you move farther south. For instance, in central Mexico the simplest ones are filled with some of the braided Oaxaca cheese, a few fresh leaves of epazote and strips of peeled chile poblano. Potato and chorizo filling is also a favorite version, while the most highly esteemed of all are those of sauteed squash blossoms (flor de calabaza) or the ambrosial fungus that grows on the corn blossoms (huitlachoche), both of which are at their best during the rainy months of summer and early fall."

A quesadilla is a 'turnover' made by folding a fresh tortilla in half around a simple filling such as cheese, epazote (a pungent herb), and pepper, or potatoes and chorizo, and deep frying it" "The Oxford Companion To Food", Alan Davidson

Tortillas
The traditional tortilla has been made of corn or maize since Pre-Columbian times. It is made by curing maize in lime water, grinding and pre-cooking it, kneading it into a dough called masa nixtamalera, pressing it flat into thin patties, and cooking it on a very hot comal ( a flat terra cotta griddle). Soaking the maize in lime water is important because it liberates the vitamin niacin and the amino acid tryptophan. When maize was brought back to Europe, Africa and Asia from the New World, people left out this crucial step. People whose diet consisted mostly of corn meal often became sick with the disease pellagra, which was common in Spain, Northern Italy and the southern United States.

Tortilla is a round, thin unleavened bread made from ground maize and is a basic food of Mesoamerica. It is not known how many millennia this has been a staple; but when the conquistadores arrived in the New World in the late 15th century, they discovered that the inhabitants made flat corn breads. The native Nahuatl name for these was tlaxcalli and the Spanish gave them the name tortilla. Fresh tortillas are eaten as bread, used as plate and spoon, or filled to make composite dishes such as tacos and enchiladas. "The Tortilla Book", Diana Kennedy [Harper & Row: New York] 1975

Refried Beans
Although food historians generally agree that new world beans played an important culinary role dating back to ancient times, the history behind refried beans seems to be in question.

"Refried beans. A Mexican-American dish of mashed cooked pinto beans, usually served as a side dish or as a filling for various tortilla preparations. The term "refried" is actually a mistranslation from the Mexican "frijoles refritos," which means "well-fried beans," a distinction first mentioned in Erna Fergusson's Mexican Cookbook (1934), but "refried" has remained in common parlance with regard to this dish.""Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink", John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman] 1999

Another explanation for "refried beans" is: "Refried beans is the misleading translation of a term very familiar in Spanish-speaking countries of Central and South America; frijoles refritos. This refers to beans which have first been cooked in water and are subsequently fried. There is no question of their being fried twice.

History of Salsa
Salsa is a combination of chilies, tomatoes, and other spices. Salsa can be traced to the early Aztecs, Mayans and Incas."The Indians, tens of centuries ago, cultivated the tomato and the pepper plants and improved and developed them until the tiny hot and pungent berries of the latter had been transformed into a number of varieties of peppery fruits, and the little red sourish berries of the other had become big luscious scarlet tomatoes. Many centuries before Columbus landed on the shores of the New World, the tomato and the peppers had spread from the land of the Incas to Central America and Mexico where they were cultivated by the Mayas and the Aztecs who called the tomato "tomatl," which the Spaniards under Cortez corrupted to the name by which the fruit is know to us today. "Foods America Gave the World", A Hyatt Verrill

The Spanish first encountered the tomato after their conquest of Mexico in 1519-1521, yet few references to tomatoes have been located in Spanish colonial documents. Sahagun was the first European to make written note of tomatoes. According to Sahagun, Aztec lords combined them with chile peppers and ground squash seeds and consumed them mainly as a condiment served on turkey, venison, lobster, and fish. This combination was subsequently called "salsa" by Alonso de Molina in 1571. "The Story of America's Favorite Food", Andrew F. Smith

The Natives claimed that Chilies are of value warding off fevers and other maladies due to their ability to stimulate the digestive organs, especially the liver.

Enchilada
Enchiladas is a traditional Mexican dish. Enchilada literally means "seasoned with chiles". The traditional enchilada sauce is just that - dried red chile peppers soaked and ground into a sauce with other seasonings.

Tamales
Tamales are made for an occasion, and an occasion is made of making them. Men, women, children, and servants all join in with good humor, shredding, chopping, stirring, and cleaning the husks, until all is prepared. Then everyone converges to form a real assembly line, some daubing the husks with masa while others add the filling, fold, and stack into the steamer. Tamales are fiesta food, the Sunday night special in many restaurants, the ceremonial food prepared in honor of the dead on All Saints' Day. They were eaten by the Mexican rulers long before the Spaniards came to the New World. Those early inhabitants of Mexico also had tamales of corn tassels mixed with aramanth seeds and the meat of ground cherries.

Tamales were made of tender corn, like the uchepos of Michoiacan today. Tamales come in an enormous variety, from the smallest norteno to the three-foot sacahuil from the Huastec countury. Tamales can be filled with the usual pork and tomato sauce, but added to it are all sorts of vegetables cut into little strips, such as: zucchini, potatoes, green beans, plantains, and chiles serranos.

Tacos
The origins of traditional foods such as tacos cannot usually be traced to a particular year or person. This food evolved because the ingredients and technology needed to cook them were readily available. The history of tacos begins with the story of corn and the cooking of tortillas.

"To most people in the United States, a taco is a tortilla bent in half to form a deep U shape, then fried crisp and stuffed to overflowing with ground beef, shredded iceberg lettuce, sliced tomato, and grated cheese. Throughout Mexico, however the simple taco consumed by millions of people daily is a fresh, hot tortilla rolled around some shredded meat or mashed beans and liberally doused with any one of the endless variety of sauces for which Mexico is justly famed, but which are sadly misrepresented this side of the border. Tacos are usually eaten as a snack between meals, in the evening with a bowl of soup for supper, or as an appetizer before the main meal of the day.""The Tortilla Book", Diana Kennedy [Harper & Row: New York] 1975

Pozole (Posole)
Pozole is a traditional pre-Columbian soup or stew made from hominy, with pork (or other meat), chile, and other seasonings and garnish, such as cabbage, lettuce, oregano, cilantro, avocado, radish, lime juice, etc. There are a number of variations on pozole, including blanco (white or clear), verde (green), de frijol (with beans), and elopozole.

Chile Relleno
"Stuffed chile", is a dish of Mexican cuisine, consisting of a roasted green New Mexico or poblano chile pepper stuffed with cheese (or more rarely minced meat, although traditionally queso fresco), covered in an egg batter, and fried. It is usually served covered with a sauce, although the type of sauce varies widely. It is sometimes also served in a taco with rice, salsa and other toppings.

Brief History of Mexico
There is evidence of human existence in México since 20,000 years BC. In Tepéxpan to the North of the Valley of México, the remains of a human corpse were found beside those of a mammoth. Using the Carbon 14 test, these remains were dated at approximately 10,000 years B.C. Agriculture began to manifest itself from the year 3,000 B.C.

The American continent was isolated during many centuries, which explains the originality of its civilization. Northern México was populated by peoples who lived from hunting and collecting in a desert or semi-desert geographical environment. The South was populated by agricultural societies.

In the vast Mesoamerica region, many different peoples with their own ethnic and linguistic differences coexisted, they had a cultural homogeneity. For instance they cultivated corn, they have a singular structure of government, they used the 365 day calendar, they built pyramids, they used similar rituals and worshiped the same gods and goddesses of the sky, of nature, of fertility and of war. The same concept of cosmic duality - the beginning and the end - appears in the religion and art of all Mesoamerican cultures.

While there were many native cultures in México, these are six that are considered to be the most influential. Each developed in a different epoch of the history of ancient México: the Olmecs, Teotihuacans, the Toltecs, the Mayans, the Zapotec and Mixtec, and the Aztecs.