The Aztec civilisation, which flourished in the 14th century until the fall of the Aztec Empire in 1519, was a society based around agriculture. Most Aztecs would spent their days working their fields or cultivating food for their great capital city of Tenochtitlan.
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Since it was easier to grow crops than hunt, the Aztec diet was primarily plant-based and focused on a few major foods. Maize, beans, salt and chilli peppers were the constants of Aztec cuisine, providing the average Aztec with a well-rounded diet without major deficiencies in vitamins and minerals.
Daily meals
Most Aztecs ate twice a day: the first after a few hours of morning work, and the second during the hottest hour of the day: at around 3 o’clock.
Breakfast would usually be a maize porridge with chillies or honey, or tortillas, beans and sauce. In the afternoon, the main meal would consist of tamales, beans, tortillas, and a casserole of squash and tomatoes.
Feasts
Banquets and feasts, as well as the ceremony surrounding them, played a key role in Aztec culture. Feasts were determined by the religious calendar, and were used as a display of material wealth. They featured singing, dancing, storytelling, incense burning, offerings, tobacco, flowers, and gift-giving.
Festivities would begin at midnight. Some attendees would drink chocolate and consume hallucinogenic mushrooms so that they could describe their experiences and visions to the other guests.
Before eating, each guest would drop some food on the ground as an offering to the god Tlaltecuhtli.
Fasting
In all aspects of life, the Aztecs stressed frugality, simplicity and moderation. All members of Aztec society engaged in fasting to some extent. The main purpose of an Aztec fast was to abstain from salt and chillis. There were no regular exceptions from the fast.