BEANS & SQUASHES
THE ENTIRE MEXICAN nation is connected by a placental cord of seeds to the uterus of an antique wild plant in the Bean family (Fabaceae). A staple of the Mexican diet, beans are refried for breakfast, served as soup or with salsa at la comida and are good at any time of the day. However, agriculture was not practiced in the earliest period of human settlement in Meso-America, 7000 BC. Large animals were plentiful; men invented tools to hunt them. When the Ice Age environment changed, land became drier as the glaciers retreated. Large animals became scarce, and hunters turned to small game and to gathering plants. Until then, and as long as protein from flesh was plentiful, plants were a neglected resource.
Where there were caves, as in Puebla and Tamaulipas, families sought shelter, prepared food and left waste. Sifting through the dust and feces in caves inhabited long ago, archaeologists discovered the beginnings of custom and culture; they found seeds from the diet of a people whose heirs would plant gardens and build cities with temples serving an array of gods. These were the seeds of bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), chili pepper (Capsicum annuum), corn (Zea mays) and squash (Cucurbita pepo).