Maize is the basic foodstuff in all American cultures. It forms part of the normal diet as well as of the mythological and religious worlds of the ancient Mayan people, and their descendants today. Other important products were: frijoles (kidney beans), the pumpkin, cacao, banana, guayaba, siricote, passionfruit and salt, etc. Cacao was a product used in trade with the people of the high plateau of Central Mexico and, until the 1 8th century, was used as a currency.

Illustration of Tikal Market, a scene of tropical abundance. (Drawing by Peter Spier, published in National Geographic Magazine, December 1975, pp. 82-83).