The “food of the gods” has its origins in Mexico thousands of years ago
The consumption of cocoa has its origins with the Olmec people approximately five thousand years ago
White , bitter, semi-bitter, in a drink, on a tablet, in cakes or cookies, chocolate is one of the most popular foods in the world. This aphrodisiac substance has its origins in Mexico, particularly in the Mayan region, more than four thousand years ago.
Chocolate, the word with which we refer to said food in Spanish, according to the Royal Spanish Academy, comes from the Nahuatl xocoatl; xoco which means bitter and atl of water. However, its name has thousands of years of customs and traditions from various Mesoamerican peoples behind it.
According to Ascensión Hernández Triviño, the etymology of the word chocolate does not appear in any text until the year 1570, when the protomedic Francisco Hernández traveled to America to write the Natural History of New Spain, commissioned by King Philip II. The envoy collected a large amount of botanical and zoological evidence, where he mentions the word chocóllatl.
Ivory Coast is currently the largest producer of cocoa; Mexico occupies eleventh place (Photo: REUTERS/Luc Gnago)
Hernández Treviño mentions in Chocolate, a history of nahualism that the work of Francisco Hernández introduces himself to the study of local foods, including those derived from the cocoa tree, the cacahoaquáhuitl, as well as the beverages that were made from it. One of these drinks was chocóllatl.
Cacao comes from the Nahuatl cacahoatl,whose meaning is “bitter juice”, while chocóllatl comes from the Mayan chocol, which literally translates as hot water.
During the colonial period, the use of cocoa was of interest to several scholars, including Juan de Cárdenas, who referred to the drink in his work Problemas y secretos marvelos de las Indias, of 1593.
For his part, the Jesuit José de Acosta in 1590 referred to chocolate as a “concoction made from cocoa, which is crazy what they value in that land,” says Ascensión Hernández in his essay.
< img class=”aligncenter” src=”https://thegaltimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/what-is-the-origin-of-the-word-chocolate-97e90df.jpg” alt=”What is the origin of the word chocolate” />
In the 19th century the chocolate bar was invented by the Swiss Daniel Peters
Chocolate consumption dates back to the Olmecs, who inhabited what is now Tabasco, Veracruz and Campeche in the preclassic period of Mesoamerica, considered the first civilization in the region more than five thousand years ago.
They were the Mayans who expanded their consumption and began with the commercialization of said good. For their part, according to the Journal of Scientific and Technological Dissemination of the Universidad Veracruzana, the Aztecs learned from the Mayans about the consumption and cultivation of cocoa. They called cacao cacahuatl and the drink derived from its fruits they called xocolatl.
Due to the quality of said food, cacao seeds were used as currency. Even the Mexica empire received tribute in grains from this plant. It is said that Moctezuma’s government obtained more than 160 million berries a year; which was enough for more than 50 cups of chocolate daily for his personal consumption.
In Mesoamerica, xocolatl was only consumed by the nobles, called pipiltin, and by the pochtecas; high-ranking merchants. It was a class drink. When the Spaniards arrived in America, they noticed that this food was of great value, while learning about its benefits and properties.
The Aztecs took up the way of consuming and harvesting cocoa from the Mayans.
For this reason, in 1528 they began to export large amounts of cocoa to Spain, making it known worldwide. It is said that due to its importance, Europeans in America also used it as currency. It is even stated that Hernán Cortés paid his soldiers with cocoa. The consumption of chocolate became widespread in the rest of the world a few years later.
It was thus that in 1753, the botanist and naturalist Carlos Linneo gave cocoa a name Theobroma cacao, whose Latin meaning is food of god or divine food. Hernández Treviño points out that this name reflects the nature of said seed, whose bitter taste conquers palates and produces pleasures that lead to repeated desire; to seduction, to addiction.
Because it is a plant that cannot be grown anywhere, except in hot and humid lands, it quickly became a coveted food.