Traditional dishes and culinary improvisations: Elite gastronomy in the Maya area

Abstract Over the past few decades, understandings of cuisine in the Maya area have been radically amplified with the use of new techniques. Some methods offer the opportunity to directly connect artifacts and features with plant foods. The recovery of microscopic food residues from sediments, artifacts, and human teeth has revealed not only a broad list of ingredients but a wide array of practices and recipes. Here, we draw on our previous paleoethnobotanical research across the Maya Lowlands to develop an understanding of Classic-period cuisines, integrating new evidence from the Southern Lowlands. We consider the emergence of elite foodways and how elite gastronomic practices factored into broader political maneuvers and private performances. We also tentatively suggest a taxonomy of local traditions that did not conform to a strict elite “grammar.” By addressing commonalities and departures from a core and canonic elite cuisine, we highlight how local elite expressions reified culinary norms but also manifested fluidity and flexibility in culinary practice. Paralleling work with other types of elite artifact assemblages, we illuminate how privileged actors drew on broader cultural logics to make their cuisines intelligible, yet also locally improvised in significant ways.