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Agriculture in Mesoamerica dates to the Archaic period of Mesoamerican chronology (8000–2000 BC). [1] At the beginning of the Archaic period, the Early Hunters of the late Pleistocene era (50,000–10,000 BC) led nomadic lifestyles, relying on hunting and gathering for sustenance.
The Mesoamericans began making fermented drinks using chocolate in 450 BC using the cocoa tree. [20] Once sugar was used to sweeten it rather than spices, it gained popularity [21] and was used in feasts. Toasted cacao beans were ground (sometimes with parched corn) and then the powder was mixed with water.
Ancient Maya cuisine was varied and extensive. Many different types of resources were consumed, including maritime, flora, and faunal material, and food was obtained or produced through strategies such as hunting, foraging, and large-scale agricultural production.
(Larger cities did exist in Mesoamerica and the Andes.) Monks Mound , the major ceremonial center of Cahokia, remains the largest earthen construction of the prehistoric Americas . The culture reached its peak in about 1200–1400 CE, and in most places, it seems to have been in decline before the arrival of Europeans.
Chiles were also added at times to cacao, when it was in a beverage form. In Mesoamerica, chiles were used for ritual purposes and therefore, the chile crops did not extend into North and South America like maize, beans, and squash. A cuisine distinct to Mesoamerica was a maize-and-chile pepper based food.
Human sacrifice was a religious practice principally characteristic of pre-Columbian Aztec civilization, although other Mesoamerican civilizations like the Maya and the Zapotec practiced it as well. The extent of the practice is debated by modern scholars.
The Fort Ancient culture of the Ohio River valley is considered a "sister culture" of the Mississippian horizon, or one of the "Mississippianised" cultures adjacent to the main area of the mound building cultures. This culture was also mostly extinct in the 17th century, but remnants may have survived into the first half of the 18th century.
Just like the cultures that inhabited Mexico before the Columbian exchange, the modern Mexican diet is heavily based on corn, beans, and peppers. Corn possesses the same importance in the region today that it did in the past. It remains the essential food product in Mexico and is utilized in a variety of ways.