Among the Mexica, meals are not divided into starter-main-dessert. Everything revolves around two staples of nixtamalized maize — the tlaxcalli (flatbread/tortilla) and the tamalli (steamed dough in a leaf) — which are dipped or coated in molli, sauces made from chīlli (chili) and miltomate (tomatillo). Around them gravitate the harvest of Lake Texcoco (algae, insect eggs, fish, axolotls), chinampa vegetables, and separate drinks: warm atolli from maize, festive octli, and xocolatl reserved for the powerful. People sit on mats, break the tortilla by hand, and the lake water is both pantry and peril.

The brackish water of the great lake yielded treasures unknown to any other cuisine: tecuitlatl (spirulina skimmed from the surface), ahuautle (water bug eggs, the Mexica 'caviar'), and charales (small fish). Seasoned with a touch of chīlli and epazote, this aquatic harvest is the very soul of the place where the Ahuizotl lurks — and the red thread through these recipes.