Life in a hunter-gatherer society cannot have been easy in a country like Mexico. Insects and bugs are large and are often poisonous. Many of the native cacti (cactus) and plants are covered with spines. There are also many snakes and other reptiles

People had to learn exactly where to look to find the best ant's eggs and which mushrooms  were safe to eat.

Table manners
Corn was first grown in Meso America around 7,000 BC. Soon after they discovered pumpkins, beans and chilies. The seasoning of any dish was important so chilies and other herbs were used extensively, including hierba de conejo Indian paintbrush and epazote --wormseed --which are still used today.

Epazote is supposed to be calming to the stomach which may explain why Mexican beans do not cause digestive problems they are always cooked with a sprig.

 Francisco Hernández, a Spanish explorer,  was sent to in 1570 to see this part of the empire. He wrote about atetepitz, ( shiny beetles).

He said, "There is hardly anything that the indigenous people do not eat."  There was black huitlacoche (a fungus that grow on ears of corn, known today as the Ôblack gold' of Mexican cuisine), orange papaya, pink mamey, and every kind of chili pepper from yellow to red, green and brown.

Most animals hunted in pre-Hispanic times were part of the diet. There are recipes available for squirrel, badger, monkey, rabbit, armadillo, tuza (an underground rodent) and wildcats. Many types of birds and fish were eaten.

The ancient name for an iguana is cuauhcuetzpalin which means 'dragon-like creature'. It is traditionally made it into a spicy insect nibble. Western Indians also devoured tadpoles with enthusiasm

The axolotl (a type of salamander) was cleaned and wrapped in corn leaves before steaming. The nuns who came to live in Mexico after the Conquest boiled axolotls to make a jelly which was regarded as being very healthy. When diluted into a syrup it was used to cure coughs and lung infections. The maguey cactus was one of the most complete sources of nutrition in pre-Hispanic Mexico.

White worms that live in the cactus are still thought of as a treat when toasted on a griddle and served with tortillas. The maguey is also home to some red worms, known as chimicuiles, which live in the roots. Eaten only in the month of October, they are toasted until crunchy. The salt is then served to with an alcoholic drink mezcal which is distilled from the same cactus.

Adult wasps and worms and the nest itself were cooked In a cooking technique known as mixiote. The thin white skin from the leaves of corn husks is used to wrap foods for steaming and cooking them.  Flies and flies' eggs were also eaten on a regular basis in pre-Hispanic times.

The most common way of eating the eggs is in omelet-style fritters served in sauce made with ancho chile. As the eggs are very small,  the fritter has a  grainy consistency. Otherwise you would never imagine that you were eating flies.  Another unusual part of the pre-Hispanic diet was wasp nests.  The whole nest was cooked on the griddle and larvae, pupae and whole wasps were eaten in the cooked nest.

Grasshoppers or chapulines, are a traditional dish still eaten in modern Mexico. The grasshoppers are caught out in the fields by hand, and left overnight in a container with fresh herbs so as to take away any bitter taste. Cooked on the griddle, they were wrapped in fresh, warm tortillas.

Jumiles are medium-sized beetles which are sometimes cooked on the griddle and often eaten alive. They are believed to cure indigestion.  Escamoles are the larva and pupa stage of the red ant. They have to be eaten when they are still white and have the appearance of grains of puffed rice (darker escamoles are bitter ).

One favorite modern treat is also of Mexican origin - chocolate.

Cacao beans had a higher value than gold. It is said that Emperor Montezuma was very surprised when Christopher Columbus showed more interest in taking home gold rather than the cacao beans they were offering him. Columbus did take some back to Spain with him along with as much gold as he could.

Unsweetened chocolate is used for making traditional Mexican mole sauce, a hand-ground mixture of spices, old tortillas, and broth with some kind of meat (usually turkey). Equipment in a Mexican kitchen today will still has two essentials that have remained the same over the last 500 years. The molcajete and the metate, both made of volcanic stone.

The molcajete is a pestle and mortar used for grinding spices. The metate is a flat version with a pestle shaped more like a rolling pin, used for grinding

There are a few Mexican restaurants that serve dishes dating back to pre-Hispanic times in today's Mexico.

La Fonda de Don Chon in downtown Mexico City is probably the most authentic of these. Authentic Mexican cuisine can also be found in major cities including Cancun, Cabos San Lucas and other spots with tourists flock to Mexican beaches and nature.

Mexican restaurants will serve specialties such as escamoles and gusanos de maguey when in season. Most hotels can give advice on where to get the best grasshopper.