Common Cancun Myths Part 2

As discussed in part one, Oxford English Dictionary defines "myth" as a traditional story involving historic and supernatural elements, or a "widely held but false belief or idea". Yet, the word "legend" is described by the same source as "a traditional story sometimes popularly regarded as historical but not authenticated". The tricky part comes when a statement is made without 'myth' or 'legend' included and seems like a genuine fact. One has to determine the amount of truth themselves. For example, "all Mexican food is spicy" sounds like a fact, a reality, a truth. Alas, it is untrue.

Food Myth

Just to be clear: not all Mexican food is spicy. It is true that chilli peppers are used in Mexican cuisine very regularly, but not to the point of burning mouths and not in everything. Before even the Greeks and Romans warred against each other, ancient civilizations were thriving in the Mexican region, and much of today's Mexican cuisine heralds back to those distant times. Over many centuries, cultivation and other means of sustenance, were slowly and painstakingly drawn from the earth. The precursor to corn, maize, was first cultivated on the Yucatan Peninsula. In fact, the three main staples of early Mesoamerican Indian diet were maize, nopales and beans.

Other foods common in the diet of pre-Columbian peoples (who lived in what is now Mexico) include the cocoa bean (chocolate), agave (used for making an early form of tequila), vanilla bean, tomatillos, avocado, guava, papaya, pineapple, sweet potato, bell pepper, and the chilli pepper. Beans, fish, and wild turkey were the primary sources of protein for the indigenous people before the arrival of the Spanish. The Spanish introduced beef, chicken, rice, goat, pork, wheat, barley and olive oil as they made their way across the Mexican landscape. Yet, even after colonialism, the simple rustic style of food remained intact. Still today, many of the recipes we find for pozole (a maize or corn soup or stew) originate from ancient Aztec or Mayan traditions - and do not necessarily include the use of chilli peppers. Mexican food is largely regional, and Yucatan seems to have the sweet tooth of the country. The iconic mole sauce is evidence of their dishes being of a largely sweet variety, rather than of a spicy nature. A mole sauce can take many forms and colours depending on the ingredient list, which can contain up to twenty items. To be considered mole sauce it must have two components present, however: chocolate and chilli. The Yucatan is renowned for its mole sauce, a thick and rich chocolaty sauce that drenches chicken, turkey or pork. This isn't a sauce to burn the roof of your mouth on, this is a delightful indulgence of decadence only found in Mexico. So you see, not all Mexican food is spicy.

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