The Jaguar's Roar - An Aztec Timeline

[Vinization]

Do they survive ITTL?

Yep. The Mexica already know how to deal with the unruly waters of Lake Texcoco and the others, so they won't need to drain them completely. The Valley of Mexico will still suffer a lot of environmental degradation, though, once its human population stops declining and starts to rise again - metropolises tend to do that.

I cant really eat beans so oh well :/

Oh man, that's really unfortunate.

Then again I was raised thinking that food can only be a full meal if there's rice on it and otherwise its just a snack, so being a rice stan is kinda my thing

I was raised in a similar way, but with rice and beans, plus a whole lot of propaganda about how it's world's the healthiest food combination. 😆

 

[generalurist]

Fascinating to see how the cuisine of the native americans is impacted in a world where the empires don't (immediately) get sPAIN'.d

 

[Xel]

This was an enjoyable little update, nice to see more mundane aspects explored, thanks for sharing!

 

[sarapen]

Only if it's served with beans, plain white rice is really boring.

Eating plain white rice is a sign of extreme poverty in Asia, though even the poorest of the poor would try to get something like fish paste to at least add some flavour to it. I'm not sure anyone with options would ever choose to eat rice and only rice.

Anyway, out of curiosity I looked up where rice is grown in Mexico and it looks like it's not super common, I assume due to the country mostly being too dry. I suppose the region is fated to stick with maize as its main crop.

 

[Migrant_Coconut]

Never tried combining it with rice myself, but surely Mexico has salsa by now?

 

[sarapen]

Never tried combining it with rice myself, but surely Mexico has salsa by now?

I believe they already had it before European contact. But speaking of tomatoes and chilis, if history is different enough then Indonesian kecap may never become ketchup and sambal could end up never being developed.

Actually, maybe it's too hard to think up new alternate history foodstuffs that would get invented instead of what we got. What about just moving the dates that stuff got developed?

EDIT: Wait, never mind, Southeast Asia already had long peppers so spicy Asian cuisine already existed. Everyone just dumped long peppers and switched to chili peppers after the Columbian exchange.

 

[Vinization]

Anyway, out of curiosity I looked up where rice is grown in Mexico and it looks like it's not super common, I assume due to the country mostly being too dry. I suppose the region is fated to stick with maize as its main crop.

The Valley of Mexico seems like a good spot to grow rice thanks to the lakes, as does the Gulf Coast (currently under the control of Spain), since it's Mexico's most humid region IIRC. But yeah, most of the Triple Alliance will keep farming what they already know, plus potatoes once they take off.

 

[Denliner]

Eating plain white rice is a sign of extreme poverty in Asia, though even the poorest of the poor would try to get something like fish paste to at least add some flavour to it. I'm not sure anyone with options would ever choose to eat rice and only rice.

Plain tortillas or tamales might be the Mesoamerican equivalent. Luckily, the Mexica and other Mesoamerican peoples know how to use nixtamalization so the chances of people getting pellagra are far smaller than OTL.

The Valley of Mexico seems like a good spot to grow rice thanks to the lakes, as does the Gulf Coast (currently under the control of Spain), since it's Mexico's most humid region IIRC. But yeah, most of the Triple Alliance will keep farming what they already know, plus potatoes once they take off.

Wheat is also possible if the Aztecs colonize the north and get a taste of breads/pastries from the Spanish.

 

[nagachate]

Only if it's served with beans, plain white rice is really boring.

This might come off as heresy to other Brazilians....but i never liked rice! I eat it with beans sure, but even then i always preffered to mix it with farinha.

 

[Prince Daemon Targaryen]

Great to see this back, and the cuisine update was surprisingly riveting. Wonder what the Aztecs could do with the Potato and Tomato.

Honestly, I hope we can see some sections of the modernization of the Inca. With the French in Brazil, the Inca could expose themselves through trade with them and adopt a lot of French customs - plus I'd love to see them try to use european weapons to expand beyond the Andes

Maybe even a Hispano-Incan war over Venezuela down the line

 

[Aluma]

This might come off as heresy to other Brazilians....but

Heretic!

 

[Saer de Quincy]

The Mississippi is going to increase in trade importance. Who’ll end up controlling it?

 

[altwere]

they could also grow upland dry rice.

 

[holycookie]

The Mississippi is going to increase in trade importance. Who’ll end up controlling it?

My guess it would be the spanish, but maybe the British will manage to secure the region.

 

[sarapen]

Wheat is also possible if the Aztecs colonize the north and get a taste of breads/pastries from the Spanish.

They'd probably make their own pita-like flatbread as an analogy from tamales.

they could also grow upland dry rice.

Would this be available to the Spanish at this time? Also as far as I can see Mexico doesn't grow upland dry rice now, presumably because they've already got their own crops for dry upland regions. @Vinization you might appreciate this website showing where crops are grown today, it's pretty informative. Here's rice in Mexico:

Apparently this isn't enough for Mexican consumers and 60% of their rice is imported by the way.

 

[Vinization]

They'd probably make their own pita-like flatbread as an analogy from tamales.

Would this be available to the Spanish at this time? Also as far as I can see Mexico doesn't grow upland dry rice now, presumably because they've already got their own crops for dry upland regions. @Vinization you might appreciate this website showing where crops are grown today, it's pretty informative. Here's rice in Mexico:

Apparently this isn't enough for Mexican consumers and 60% of their rice is imported by the way.

Thanks, this is roughly in line with what I expected.

 

[The Forty-Eighth Rōnin]

Mexica will eventually develop it's own rice recipes that will rival paella and
various Asian rice dishes.

 

[sarapen]

Mexica will eventually develop it's own rice recipes that will rival paella and
various Asian rice dishes.

Mexico doesn't do anything with rice flour like creating noodles, rice cakes, or steamed buns. I don't think they make any rice liquors or rice drinks either. I suppose it's not impossible that the Mexica adopt these things but rivalling the centre of rice-based foods is a rather tall order.

 

[Denliner]

Mexico doesn't do anything with rice flour like creating noodles, rice cakes, or steamed buns. I don't think they make any rice liquors or rice drinks either. I suppose it's not impossible that the Mexica adopt these things but rivalling the centre of rice-based foods is a rather tall order.

Mexico could certainly make its own variations, but those recipes will always have descent from European sources since they're the only ones in Mesoamerica that trade in rice and have rice dishes of their own. Makes me think that white rice will become a symbol of royalty and wealth since it is so expensive to process, acquire, and cook with (while providing not much nutrition as a grain compared to maize or amaranth).

The possibility of having horchata de arroz be a drink associated with the Tlatoani and the royal court instead of a common Mexican drink is highly amusing, that's for sure.

 

[nagachate]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1698013645848924223