Traditional way of preparing food: The typical Mayan kitchen is found with a variety of traditional cooking instruments that are indispensable for preparing a wide range of typical foods, that are both nutritious and delicious. The most important include: the comal or clay griddle used mainly to cook and/or heat up tortillas; the “piedra” or grinding stone, used to grind corn, seeds, spices, herbs and tomatoes for salsas, pastes and other cooking ingredients; tinajas, water jugs, traditional made out of clay, but in more recent times, plastic; escudios, clay bowls and guacales, plastic bowls, using for extracting water from the pila (outdoor wasking sink) and carrying/holding foods that are being processed; and the petate, a woven reed mat used for sitting on while cooking, weaving or visiting. Many families still cook over an open fire and use either rocks or a steel base to place the comal or pots on. They used firewood or leña, which the husband usually gathers from local forests, or in some cases just buys already cut and ready for use. Tortillas, the main staple of the Maya, are prepared daily starting around 5 AM in a process that includes washing and grinding corn kernels before patting them into their typical round shape and cooking them on a comal.

Traditional Mayan beverages: the majority of traditional beverages that Mayans drink are natural, nutritious and simple to prepare. Corn is the principal ingredient in the majority of beverages; which is prepared by boiling then grounding into a mash using the piedra; once mashed, it is cooked again to a consistency similar to corn grits. This atole is very popular and is found in kitchens and markets all across the country. Some atoles have a few large piloy beans and chile added, while others are plain. There is sweet atole that is made from yellow corn with sugar added. There is white rice atole which is made with crushed white rice and cinnamon. Atole de haba (fava beans roasted and ground) is another favorite, which is specially flavored with anise.

Other popular beverages are coffee and chocolate. Coffee is drank widely among Mayan families, sometimes during all three meals, albeit somewhat watered down compared to our North American expressos, lattes or americanos. The best quality coffee is exported around the would while Guatemalans are usually left with lower quality coffees which is what the majority of the population drinks. Chocolate is most often used for special occasions or fiestas like Dia de los Muertos or All Saints Day, birthdays and other important celebrations or ceremonies.

Herbs and medicinal plants: the Maya are known as stewards of the Mother Earth and their intimate relation with nature has led them to master the use of herbs and medicinal plants in their practice of the healing arts. All plants were put on the earth for a reason and the Maya have discovered those reasons. Most Mayan yards are adorned with a spattering of a variety of plants and flowers that are used interchangeably as spices, herbs and medicine.

Among the most common plants found in a Mayan women’s garden are: apazote, manzanilla (chamomile), pericon (st. john’s wort), menta (mint), hierbabuena , te de limon (lemon grass), ruda (rue), oregano, albahaca (basil), salvia santa, sabila (aloe vera) and many others. In addition to these herbs, there are many parts of trees that are used for medicinal properties including: roots, leaves, bark, seeds and fruit. Among the most commonly used trees used for medicinal purposes are: avocado, peach, apple, pear, pine, oak, cedar, hardwoods and a large variety of other native plants.