35 articles
Tortilla
Tortilla: thin round flatbread of Mexican cuisine, corn (nixtamalized masa) or wheat flour; staple since after 300 BCE, base of tacos and burritos, now folic-acid fortified in California.
Tortilla chips
Tortilla chips: fried triangular snacks made from nixtamalized corn masa, popularized by Rebecca Webb Carranza in 1940s Los Angeles; base of nachos, a $2.5 billion U.S. retail category led by Frito-Lay.
Tostada (tortilla)
Tostada (tortilla): a flat, crispy Mexican corn tortilla, fried or comal-toasted, eaten open-faced with refried beans, protein, cheese, and salsa; prehispanic origin, Aztec name totopochtli, distinct from tacos and chalupas.
Ugali
Ugali (posho, sima) is the stiff maize-flour porridge that is the daily staple of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, eaten by hand with vegetables or meat; it replaced older sorghum and millet porridges after maize arrived in Africa in the 16th-17th centuries.
Xipe Totec
Xipe Totec, "Our Lord the Flayed One," ancient Mesoamerican god of spring, war, and goldsmiths, honored in the Tlacaxipehualiztli festival through captive sacrifice, flaying, and 20-day ritual wearing of victims' skins.