Mexican Tortillas

If you were expected to eat a completely unfamiliar dish that someone else called tortilla, how would you feel? Most people in the Americas only think of the corn or flour circular food when they hear tortilla. There is, however, a dish in Spain called tortilla, tortilla de patatas, or tortilla española that is made from eggs and potatoes. While tortillas from Mexico and Spain might share the same word, they are two distinct foods that are quite different in how they are made and how they reflect each culture.
A Mexican tortilla is a flat circle of cooked ground corn or flour that is used to hold other ingredients like meat and vegetables. It is prepared by mixing mashed corn or flour with water, salt, and baking powder. Occasionally, mineral
Tortillas have been an important part of the Mexican diet and culture. Before the New Spain colony, corn and proto-tortillas were the main food source of the Aztec and Mayan empires. It was so important to their civilization that it became a critical part of their worship and mythology. They believed that the gods used corn dough to create humans (Morton pg. 23/24). The Aztecs were so worried about getting enough rain and a good harvest that they sacrificed children and offered the hearts to the gods (Morton pg. 33). It was not until sometime between 300 BC and Hernan Cortez’s contact with the Aztecs in 1519 that the tortilla we know today became prominent (Morton pg. 28 & 31). While establishing the colony of New Spain, Spanish missionaries used tortillas to get the indigenous population to convert to Catholicism (Morton pg. 54). Also during the colonial era, Spaniards brought wheat and bread, opening the door to the creation of flour tortillas (Morton pg. 47 & 58). As time progressed, both Spaniards and aborigines stuck with their native foodstuffs, allowing tortillas to perpetuate to the present (Morton pg. 52). In post-colonial Mexico, tortillas have continued to be critical to diet and society. It makes up half of the “daily caloric intake” and influences Mexican politics, gender roles, and social ideologies (Morton pg. 79, 87 &