Among the Mexica, meals were not served as "starter-main-dessert": everything revolved around nixtamalized maize. The daily staple was the tlaxcalli tortilla, folded to scoop up sauces (molli) and accompaniments of beans (etl) and herbs (quilitl). On feast days, steamed tamalli and precious drinks like cacahuatl were prepared. Foods shaped from amaranth dough (tzoalli) and travel rations (pinolli) completed the circle. To the gods, tzoalli and offerings placed at the foot of stone disks were reserved.

A small sacred seed that was popped over heat and bound with maguey syrup to mold effigies of the gods. Alongside the ubiquitous chīlli, it was the ceremonial ingredient par excellence — the seed offered to the beheaded Moon.