Bread
Fertile Crescent · the world
Wheat and fire: one of humanity's oldest foods.
★ · Gastronomy Collection
The table of humanity.
30 foods, dishes, ingredients and drinks from three libraries: the world, the Maya and Mexico. Bread and rice, maize and cacao, mole and kimchi: every people feeds the world with its knowledge.
Sources in every card · References
01The map of the table
Where every dish comes from.
30 foods on one map: the Yucatán table, Oaxaca, the milpa, Naples, Korea, Ethiopia… with day and night live. Press ▶ to travel from table to table; every point opens its card.
Travel through the tables: press ▶ to fly
Every card is placed where its own place line says; a region is marked at one representative point. Base maps © Esri and OpenStreetMap contributors · continents: Natural Earth (public domain).
02All the gastronomy
30 dishes, ingredients and drinks.
Choose a library or a kind of food, or search by name, place or ingredient.
Nothing here matches yet. Ask the librarian.
Rice
Asia · the world
The daily grain of billions.
Tortilla
Mesoamerica
Nixtamalized maize: the base of traditional Mexican cuisine (UNESCO 2010).
Couscous
Maghreb
Shared knowledge of the Maghreb (UNESCO 2020).
Kimchi
Korea
Kimjang, the making and sharing of kimchi (UNESCO).
Washoku
Japan
Traditional Japanese cuisine (UNESCO 2013).
Injera
Ethiopia and Eritrea
Fermented teff flatbread shared from one plate.
Neapolitan pizza
Naples, Italy
The art of the pizzaiuolo (UNESCO 2017).
Cacao
Mesoamerica · the world
The drink of the gods became the world's chocolate.
Tea
China · the world
Traditional tea processing of China (UNESCO 2022).
Cochinita pibil
Yucatán
Pork in achiote and sour orange, wrapped in banana leaves and cooked in the pib, the earth oven.
Sikil p'aak
Yucatán
A dip of toasted squash seeds, tomato and chile, an ancient Maya recipe.
Kak'ik
Alta Verapaz, Guatemala
Q'eqchi' turkey soup with chiles and spices, Intangible Cultural Heritage of Guatemala.
Pib (mucbipollo)
Yucatán
The great tamal baked underground for Hanal Pixán, the feast of the souls.
Pozol
Chiapas and Tabasco
Fermented maize dough, often with cacao, dissolved in water: food for the road and the field.
Maize
The milpa
The sacred grain from which the gods made the first people.
Cacao
Lowland forests
Drink of the lords, offering to the gods and coin of the markets.
Melipona honey
Xunan kab bee
Honey of the stingless bee, medicine and offering.
Chaya
Maya gardens
The 'tree spinach', rich in protein and iron.
Habanero chile
Yucatán Peninsula
The fiery chile of Yucatán, with designation of origin.
Mole
Puebla and Oaxaca
A sauce of chiles, seeds, spices and cacao: the dish of feasts.
Tamales
All of Mexico
Maize dough steamed in husks or leaves; hundreds of regional recipes.
Pozole
Guerrero, Jalisco, Michoacán
A broth of nixtamal maize, from the Nahuatl pozolli.
Tlayudas
Oaxaca
A large toasted tortilla with beans, quesillo and asiento.
Chapulines
Oaxaca
Toasted grasshoppers with lime and chile, protein of the milpa.
Maize · nixtamal
Mesoamerica
Maize cooked with lime: the ancient technique that feeds Mexico.
Beans
The milpa
One of the three sisters, grown with maize and squash.
Chile
Domesticated in Mexico
From Nahuatl chilli: more than 60 native varieties.
Cacao
Tabasco and Chiapas
Chocolate, a word from Nahuatl; cacao was the drink of the Mexica lords.
Pulque
Central highlands
Fermented sap of the maguey, sacred drink of Mayahuel.
03The milpa
Maize, beans, chile and cacao.
The ancient field of Mesoamerica, where maize grows with beans and squash: the base of the Maya and Mexican tables and a gift to the world.
Tortilla
Mesoamerica
Nixtamalized maize: the base of traditional Mexican cuisine (UNESCO 2010).
Cacao
Mesoamerica · the world
The drink of the gods became the world's chocolate.
Maize
The milpa
The sacred grain from which the gods made the first people.
Cacao
Lowland forests
Drink of the lords, offering to the gods and coin of the markets.
Chaya
Maya gardens
The 'tree spinach', rich in protein and iron.
Habanero chile
Yucatán Peninsula
The fiery chile of Yucatán, with designation of origin.
Maize · nixtamal
Mesoamerica
Maize cooked with lime: the ancient technique that feeds Mexico.
Beans
The milpa
One of the three sisters, grown with maize and squash.
Chile
Domesticated in Mexico
From Nahuatl chilli: more than 60 native varieties.
Cacao
Tabasco and Chiapas
Chocolate, a word from Nahuatl; cacao was the drink of the Mexica lords.
04In our libraries
Every table has its library.
The gastronomy of each bioregion lives in its own library, with its peoples, its plants and its feasts.