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m Maintain {{WPBS}} and vital articles: 3 WikiProject templates. Keep majority rating "C" in {{WPBS}}. Remove 3 same ratings as {{WPBS}} in {{WikiProject Food and drink}}, {{WikiProject Mesoamerica}}, {{WikiProject Mexico}}.
 
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|dykentry=... that [[maize]] was the staple of '''[[Aztec cuisine]]''', and that [[maguey worm]]s, [[Spirulina (dietary supplement)|spirulina]] and [[corn smut]] were popular [[Aztec]] foods?
|dykentry=... that [[maize]] was the staple of '''[[Aztec cuisine]]''', and that [[maguey worm]]s, [[Spirulina (dietary supplement)|spirulina]] and [[corn smut]] were popular [[Aztec]] foods?
}}
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{{WikiProject banner shell|class=C|1=
{{WikiProject Food and drink|class=C|importance=high}}
{{WikiProject Food and drink|importance=high}}
{{WikiProject Mesoamerica|class=C|importance=Mid|aztec=yes}}
{{WikiProject Mesoamerica|importance=Mid|aztec=yes}}
{{WikiProject Mexico|class=C|importance=mid}}
{{WikiProject Mexico|importance=mid}}
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== Long lead ==

To me, this article seems to have an excessively long lead (the bit before the first main heading). I have neither the time nor the expertise to improve it, but thought I would note it here so that other editors may have a chance at improving it. [[User:Meand|me_and]] ([[User talk:Meand|talk]]) 01:43, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

:I removed some information about beverages which was is repeated in the main body of the article. Does it still seem too long?
:[[User:Peter Isotalo|Peter]] <sup>[[User talk:Peter Isotalo|Isotalo]]</sup> 19:45, 5 February 2008 (UTC) as well as utc

== Good article nomination passed ==

Because the issues mentioned above have generally been addressed, the article has passed good article nomination. Congratulations! [[User:Sandstein|Sandstein]] ([[User talk:Sandstein|talk]]) 06:13, 7 February 2008 (UTC)

:Thank you very much. I appreciate the input.
:[[User:Peter Isotalo|Peter]] <sup>[[User talk:Peter Isotalo|Isotalo]]</sup> 08:28, 7 February 2008 (UTC)
Aztecs Legal age for drinking was 60 yrs old , or else they would be sentanced to death. <small>—Preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment added by [[Special:Contributions/195.8.175.195|195.8.175.195]] ([[User talk:195.8.175.195|talk]]) 13:21, 7 April 2008 (UTC)</small><!-- Template:UnsignedIP --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->

==Blowing on maize??==
[[Image:Blowing on maize.jpg|thumb|250px|right|An Aztec woman blowing on maize before putting in the cooking put, so that it will not fear the fire. [[Florentine Codex]], late 16th century.]]
Fellow Mesoamericanists:
To my eye, the squigglies in front of the woman in the Florentine Codex look like [[speech scroll]]s, and that she is actually speaking or (in my opinion) singing. I have added a "{{fact}}" to the caption. Any insight anyone?? [[User:Madman2001|Madman]] ([[User talk:Madman2001|talk]]) 21:26, 3 June 2008 (UTC)

:Read the paragraph right next to the picture. It's explained in Coe. There is nothing in there about singing or talking to maize before it is cooked.
:[[User:Peter Isotalo|Peter]] <sup>[[User talk:Peter Isotalo|Isotalo]]</sup> 03:48, 4 June 2008 (UTC)

::We should verify this in the florentine codex not in Coe. It does indeed look like speech scrolls. Coe is not a particularly reliable translator of Nahuatl. [[User:Maunus|·Maunus·]] [[User talk:Maunus|·<span class="Unicode">ƛ</span>·]] 01:20, 5 June 2008 (UTC)
:::I'm also thinking that Coe might have misinterpreted. How can we check with the Codex?? [[User:Madman2001|Madman]] ([[User talk:Madman2001|talk]]) 03:19, 5 June 2008 (UTC)

::::The Florentine Codex is written in Nahuatl ''and'' Spanish as far as I know. There are fascimile editions and I'm pretty sure there are modern Spanish editions. The picture I scanned has a folio reference you can look up if you wish to make your own conclusions.
::::[[User:Peter Isotalo|Peter]] <sup>[[User talk:Peter Isotalo|Isotalo]]</sup> 06:40, 5 June 2008 (UTC)
::::Btw, is there any reason we should believe that breathing and speaking would be illustrated differently? Are the examples of "breathing scrolls"?
::::[[User:Peter Isotalo|Peter]] <sup>[[User talk:Peter Isotalo|Isotalo]]</sup> 04:17, 6 June 2008 (UTC)
:::::It's certainly a possibility! I'm hoping Maunus, Nahuatl scholar that he is, will have some insight into how to check the Codex itself. Thanks for your concern, Peter. [[User:Madman2001|Madman]] ([[User talk:Madman2001|talk]]) 12:59, 6 June 2008 (UTC)
::::::If you have trouble getting hold of a facsimile, I can get you photos of selected folios from the edition at Stockholm University Library.
::::::[[User:Peter Isotalo|Peter]] <sup>[[User talk:Peter Isotalo|Isotalo]]</sup> 15:44, 6 June 2008 (UTC)
:::::::being in the outback at the moment I cannot check the florentine codex untill July :( .[[User:Maunus|·Maunus·]] [[User talk:Maunus|·<span class="Unicode">ƛ</span>·]] 20:34, 6 June 2008 (UTC)
:::::::July is fine with me. It's not a big deal -- obviously the woman is forcing air out in conjuction with the maize, and the details of ''how'' she's doing it can wait. What "outback" are you in, pray tell, Maunus ol' chap? And how do you have an Internet connection? : ) [[User:Madman2001|Madman]] ([[User talk:Madman2001|talk]]) 20:52, 6 June 2008 (UTC)
::::::::Im in [[Hueyapan]], [[Morelos]] and I probably could find a copy of the florentine codex, but I would need to know where to look and it would cost me a few days of travel. In Denmark I know where to go. Hopefully July will also see uploads of new photos from [[Chalcatzingo]], [[Xochicalco]], [[Tenayuca]], [[Santa Cecilia Acatitlán]], [[Malinalco]] and the [[Templo Mayor]].[[User:Maunus|·Maunus·]] [[User talk:Maunus|·<span class="Unicode">ƛ</span>·]] 21:12, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

Hey Maunus, hope the research travel 'n' all is going well, & look forward to seeing those pics.

It looks like Sophie Coe gets that quote about Aztec women breathing on maize so it "would not fear the fire" directly from the Dibble & Anderson translation of the ''Florentine'', so the words at least can be considered authoritative.

But that passage comes from Book 5 (p.184), so I guess the question is whether this particular illustration from the codex accompanies the text, or whether it comes from another place in the codex (in which case, it might be depicting something else).

The img is captioned as coming from Book 1 (f.347R) of the ''Florentine'' - can this be validated? I thought Book 1 of the codex was where various Aztec deities were described, and that it did not contain observations on daily custom and the like...?

On a side note, looking around I was interested to find a current syllabus on Ancient Middle America from University of Minnesota, Duluth, which refers to and uses some of the material in this article (see [http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/troufs/anth3618/maweek14.html here]), including this very illustration and its caption(!) --[[User:CJLL Wright|cjllw]]<span style="color:#DAA520;"> <span title="Pronunciation in IPA" class="IPA">ʘ</span> </span><small>''[[User talk:CJLL Wright|TALK]]''</small> 07:29, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

== Cannibalism ==

Cannibalism, regardless of whether it took place in certain rituals, has *nothing* to do with cuisine.

Cuisine is (according to our very own wiki page): a specific '''set of cooking traditions and practices''', often associated with a specific culture.

While cannibalism may be considered a (religious) "tradition" or "practice", it still does not qualify:

'''Cooking''' is the process of preparing '''food''' by applying heat.
and:
'''Food''' is any substance, usually composed of carbohydrates, fats, proteins and water, that can be eaten or drunk by an animal, including humans, '''for nutrition or pleasure'''.

This clearly does not include substances that are eaten or drunk for purposes ''other than nutrition or pleasure''. For example, although various poisons have at times been eaten by humans for the purpose of building immunity, these ''are not considered food.''

Cannibalism, to whatever extent it was practiced if at all, was most certainly ''not'' practiced for the purposes of nutrition or pleasure. Human flesh was never food, and the preparation of it was never cuisine. Furthermore, this information ''is already available in another article''. It doesn't need to be duplicated here, certainly when it is not pertinent to the topic. See: [[Cannibalism_in_pre-Columbian_America]] <small><span class="autosigned">—Preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment added by [[User:Accius|Accius]] ([[User talk:Accius|talk]] • [[Special:Contributions/Accius|contribs]]) 22:56, 9 March 2010 (UTC)</span></small><!-- Template:Unsigned --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->

:You tried removing this information before[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aztec_cuisine&action=historysubmit&diff=206418016&oldid=205444409] and was reverted with a valid argument.[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aztec_cuisine&diff=next&oldid=206418016] Though it was civil of you to provide a more detailed explanation, the argument is still valid. The information is included in this article not to present cannibalism as a part of normal Aztec cuisine, something made perfectly clear in the text, but to dispel a popular myth. It's comparable to information about how spices were not used to disguise the taste of spoiled food in [[medieval cuisine#Historiography and sources|medieval cuisine]]. Whether unusual types of food intake, such as rituals, should be considered to be part of cuisine is worth discussing, but it's not a valid argument for removing this info entirely.
:[[User:Peter Isotalo|Peter]] <sup>[[User talk:Peter Isotalo|Isotalo]]</sup> 10:03, 17 March 2010 (UTC)

:I agree with your argument, and now understand the reasoning for including this. However, before your explanation, the article appeared to be presenting cannibalism as an actual part of cuisine, despite the refutation of the myth that it was resorted to out of nutritional need. I still think the clarity of this could be improved. And as long as we're dispelling myths, I think it deserves mention that there is skepticism as to whether, even in rituals, cannibalism was actually practiced often or at all. I would have to find sources, but I know there is some thought that the human flesh was swapped out for more typical meat (e.g. fowl) before consumption. Also, since this topic is more thoroughly covered with its own article, it may be better to put a brief explanation dispelling myths of widespread nutritional cannibalism, followed by a link to the main article for more details. <small><span class="autosigned">—Preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment added by [[User:Accius|Accius]] ([[User talk:Accius|talk]] • [[Special:Contributions/Accius|contribs]]) 21:28, 19 March 2010 (UTC)</span></small><!-- Template:Unsigned --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->

::I was under the impression that the existence of ritual cannibalism among the Aztecs was something fairly uncontroversial among scholars. I mean, don't even sources based on accounts by the Aztecs themselves describe cannibalism? I don't want to comment either way, though, since I haven't read much about the matter. If you have sources that can make the article more nuanced, please don't hesitate to present them.
::I don't know if I personally agree that the current text presents cannibalism as anything like "an actual part of cuisine", though. I mean, it does begin with the the very unambiguous statement about "ritual cannibalism". But if you have ideas on how this should be improved suggestions are most welcome.
::[[User:Peter Isotalo|Peter]] <sup>[[User talk:Peter Isotalo|Isotalo]]</sup> 16:31, 20 March 2010 (UTC)

I have moved Cannibalism to its own section, since it is not a "dietary norm", and to subsection it as such would provide the suggestion that it was a routine part of the diet, rather than a ritualistic practice. I understand that the contents of the section itself explain this, but it still belongs under its own section. <span style="font-size: smaller;" class="autosigned">—Preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment added by [[Special:Contributions/173.23.130.170|173.23.130.170]] ([[User talk:173.23.130.170|talk]]) 04:30, 27 February 2011 (UTC)</span><!-- Template:UnsignedIP --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->

==Omnivorous or Vegan?==
In paragraph three it says that Aztecs consumed an impressive variety of animals, and then under the section food, paragraph one it is said that they were mostly vegetarian? Which is it? What percentage of the diet was derived from plants, and, what percentage is required to literally be vegetarian? If you eat any animal meat at all does that not preclude the description vegetarian? <span style="font-size: smaller;" class="autosigned">— Preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment added by [[Special:Contributions/208.92.221.84|208.92.221.84]] ([[User talk:208.92.221.84|talk]]) 11:23, 7 March 2012 (UTC)</span><!-- Template:Unsigned IP --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->
:Their diet was mostly vegetarian, although the elite had more meat than the poor. Your diet can be mainly vegetarian without you being a vegetarian. But the article really doesn't make this clear at all, especially the lead. See [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ytghV9q6v3cC&pg=PA99&dq=Aztecs%27+diet+was+mostly+vegetarian&hl=en&sa=X&ei=nF5XT-eSE8em8gPNoMz8Dg&ved=0CG4Q6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=Aztecs%27%20diet%20was%20mostly%20vegetarian&f=false], [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ZseasJq3WzEC&pg=PA374&dq=Aztec+diet&hl=en&sa=X&ei=RV1XT47RJof-8gOwm-GQDw&ved=0CFIQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=Aztec%20diet&f=false], [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=b3J52_9SwwEC&pg=PA59&dq=Aztec+diet&hl=en&sa=X&ei=DF1XT-POGofN8QOoo_HcDg&ved=0CF8Q6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=Aztec%20diet&f=false] and [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=qZNdwX8O9DUC&pg=PA60&dq=Aztec+diet&hl=en&sa=X&ei=DF1XT-POGofN8QOoo_HcDg&ved=0CEoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Aztec%20diet&f=false]. [[User:Dougweller|Dougweller]] ([[User talk:Dougweller|talk]]) 13:15, 7 March 2012 (UTC)

== Sources ==

I'm not going to nominate this article for a GAR at this point, but it is in serious need of in-line citations. [[User:Tezero|Tezero]] ([[User talk:Tezero|talk]]) 18:30, 20 February 2014 (UTC)

== Cannibalism redux ==

A good source discussing this is [https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=FZ1cAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA242&dq=lack+of+meat,+++cannibalism+and+human+sacrifice+in+Aztec+culture.&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjzwIy8ycnKAhUGuRQKHbqjAUgQ6AEISTAH#v=onepage&q=lack%20of%20meat%2C%20%20%20cannibalism%20and%20human%20sacrifice%20in%20Aztec%20culture.&f=false here]] ''Aztec Archaeology and Ethnohistory'' By Frances F. Berdan. It discusses their beliefs but also the ideas of people who see it as a result of protein deficiency. Arguing, by the way, that this wasn't actually a problem - as our article points out. Maize/bean alone probably being sufficient. Incidences of cannibalism seem to also coincide with harvests. [[User:Doug Weller|<span style="color:#070">Doug Weller</span>]] [[User talk:Doug Weller|talk]] 10:58, 27 January 2016 (UTC)

== Lack of Domesticated Animals for Meat leads to Cannibalism and Human Sacrifice ==

The Aztecs lacked domestic animals, such as chickens, sheep or goats, cows, and pigs for meat, so they resorted to cannibalism and used human sacrifice as justification. In the Old World, sacrifice is usually done with goats, cows, or chickens, and the lack of such animals means humans were used instead, as happened in Aztec society.--[[Special:Contributions/114.249.217.155|114.249.217.155]] ([[User talk:114.249.217.155|talk]]) 05:55, 3 February 2016 (UTC)
:Read the article, read the source just above. They had plenty of protein. [[User:Doug Weller|<span style="color:#070">Doug Weller</span>]] [[User talk:Doug Weller|talk]] 07:19, 3 February 2016 (UTC)
::You can get protein from beans and tofu, so animal meat has characteristics that satisfy the mind, other than being simply protein. --[[Special:Contributions/114.249.217.155|114.249.217.155]] ([[User talk:114.249.217.155|talk]]) 14:54, 3 February 2016 (UTC)
:::Maybe, but we go by what the sources say, not our opinions. [[User:Doug Weller|<span style="color:#070">Doug Weller</span>]] [[User talk:Doug Weller|talk]] 16:22, 3 February 2016 (UTC)

== Cacao ==

Hello! I'm an international student enrolled in history class. One of the projects that I have to do is to add some information about the Aztec cuisine. My topic is Cacao in symbol and ritual. Please be good to me! ([[User:AndreaM239|AndreaM239]] ([[User talk:AndreaM239|talk]]) 22:10, 22 May 2017 (UTC)).

Latest revision as of 23:34, 9 February 2024

Former good articleAztec cuisine was one of the Agriculture, food and drink good articles, but it has been removed from the list. There are suggestions below for improving the article to meet the good article criteria. Once these issues have been addressed, the article can be renominated. Editors may also seek a reassessment of the decision if they believe there was a mistake.
Article milestones
DateProcessResult
February 6, 2008Good article nomineeListed
February 8, 2016Good article reassessmentDelisted
Did You Know
A fact from this article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "Did you know?" column on April 30, 2007.
The text of the entry was: Did you know ... that maize was the staple of Aztec cuisine, and that maguey worms, spirulina and corn smut were popular Aztec foods?
Current status: Delisted good article
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