The Colorful Tale of Mexico's A-maize-ing Grain
7/22/202551 min
This might sound corny, but the relationship between maize and humanity is essential. We rely on corn—globally, more maize is grown than wheat or rice—and, in turn, corn is utterly dependent on us, to the extent that it's lost the ability to reproduce without our help. But corn's wild ancestor is such an unappetizing weed that, for decades, archaeologists couldn't believe today's juicy cobs were all descended from it. From this unpromising beginning, we've got a story that involves empires, vampires, and generations of women chained to the (literal) grindstone. Pass the popcorn and settle in as we e...
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First 90 secondsJorge Gaviria· Guest0:04
I remember they had a toaster oven and they had corn tortillas, which felt like very authentic ones, and Muenster cheese. And I would just put a piece of Muenster cheese on top of a tortilla, put it in the toaster oven, and make basically, like, toast it until it was, like, tostada status with cheese on top and put some hot sauce on it. And I would have, like, two of those to start, and then I would figure out what I wanted to do after that with my life. That, that was definitely, like, my, my routine and my first sort of, like, conscious relationship with a tortilla.
Cynthia Graber· Host0:36
Chef Jorge Gaviria's family had fed him tortillas nearly every day before that one, but when he started this routine, this was the time he claimed tortillas for himself. It was an after-school snack at his grandparents' house, but it was also, as he says, a relationship. The corn tortilla was the thing that helped him feel grounded after he got home from school.
Nicola Twilley· Host0:54
And Jorge is not alone. Millions of people rely on corn tortillas to provide both physical and emotional sustenance every day. Corn is life for a large part of the world, and corn is also this episode of, yes, Gastropod, the podcast that looks at food through the lens of science and history. I'm Nicola Twilley.
Cynthia Graber· Host1:15
And I'm Cynthia Graber. This episode, we're telling the story of this essential substance. How did a random grass in what's now Mexico that had a tiny, hard seed head blossom into those impressive stalks with foot-long cobs laden with large, starchy kernels?
Nicola Twilley· Host1:29
And how did that