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The answer lies not in maize's divine connections, but in the environment that Central America offered. In this part of the world at this time around nine thousand years ago, other food resources were very thin on the ground. There were no easily domesticated animals-as you would find pigs, sheep or cattle elsewhere-and the staples were a trinity of plants that were slowly cultivated and tamed: squashes, beans and maize. But beans and squashes don't become gods -why does maize?
答案却不是因为玉米本身有何神圣性，而是由中美洲自身的环境所决定的。九千年以前，在地球的这部分地区，其他食物来源相当之贫乏。也没有容易驯化的动物。你在其他地区可以找到的猪、羊、牛之类的，这里都没有。当时这里人类的主食主要有三种：瓜类、豆类及玉米。那为什么豆类与瓜类都成不了神，唯独玉米可以呢？
Well, the plant from which maize derives, the teosinte, is wonderfully adaptable. It's able to grow in both the lush wet lowlands and the dry mountainous regions, which means that farmers can plant crops in any of their seasonal dwellings. On top of that, constant harvesting of the grain encourages the plants to grow larger and more abundantly, so maize quickly became plentiful-farmers got a healthy return for investing their labour. But crucially, maize is a rich carbohydrate that gives you a rapid energy hit. But it is, let's face it, pretty stodgy, and so from very early on, farmers also cultivated an ingenious-and tasty-accompaniment; the indigenous chilli. It has virtually no nutritional value but, as we all know, it's uniquely able to liven up dull carbohydrates-and it shows that we've been foodies for as long as we've been farmers.
其实那种玉米进化而来的植物大刍草具有很奇妙的适应性。它既能够轻轻松松生长在郁郁葱葱的低海拔湿地，也能毫不费力地适应干旱少雨的山区，这样农民就可以在任何季节任何地点种植这种植物。最重要的是，这种植物越是频繁收割，或是可以结出更丰硕更充足的果实。因此玉米迅速成为广受欢迎的农作物，家书辛苦付出的汗水总能有丰富的回报。另外关键一点是，玉米是一种营养丰富的碳水化合物，能够迅速地补充人体的能量损失。当然，我们现实点来说吧，玉米吃起来味道真不咋的。很早很早以前，农民就巧妙地培育出了一种美味的调味品—土著辣椒。这种辣椒本身没任何营养价值，但它恰恰能给食之无味的玉米变得好吃起来。这表明，自从我们人类学会了农耕，我们就学会当美食家了。
By AD 1000, maize had spread north and south, virtually through the whole length of the Americas; which is perhaps surprising-because, in its earliest form, not only did maize have little taste, it was practically inedible. It couldn't just be boiled and eaten straight away as it is today. Nine thousand years ago, the maize cob was very hard, and eating it raw would have made you very ill. It needed to be cooked in a mixture of water and white lime.
大概公元前1000左右，玉米已经由南到北，几乎遍布了整个美洲大陆了。这可能会让令人惊奇，因为其实最早期的玉米品种，不单单食之无味，而且根本就几乎不能食用的。不像今天的玉米，可以直接煮来吃。九千年前，玉米芯是很硬很硬的，啃不下嘴；生吃的话你又会病得很惨。它必须在水与白石灰中煮熟。用这沸腾的石灰水来处理早期玉米芯绝对是必不可少的过程。
This elaborate process of boiling the raw kernel in lime and water was essential. Without it, the two key nutrients in the vegetable-the amino acids and vitamin B-would not be released. After all that, it had to be ground into a paste and then made into an unleavened dough. The god of maize expected his disciples to work hard for their supper. Even today, maize still dominates much of Mexican cuisine, and it still carries a surprisingly powerful religious and metaphorical charge, as restaurateur Santiago Calva knows only too well:
没这样做，玉米中最关键的两种营养成份氨基酸和维生素B基本就释放不了。接着，它还要被研磨成糊状，然后再做成一种不发酵的面团。直到今天，玉米仍然在墨西哥菜系中占有主导地们，而且它本身仍然具备有一种令人惊叹的强大宗教与象征性的蕴意。开餐厅的圣地亚哥?卡尔瓦再清楚不过了：
The continuous spin-offs of maize into daily life is vast and complex. At some stage there will always be maize around, and it jumps any class barrier or identity. Everybody eats it and drinks it, from the richest to the poorest, from the most indigenous to the least indigenous, and that's one thing that unites more than anything else.
“不断由玉米衍生而来的事物，轻松随意地渗透进人们的日常生活，影响即普遍又复杂。在某些阶段，我们生活周遭永远都有玉米的存在，超过了任何障碍与身份识别。从首富到最穷的，从最土著的到最不像土著的，大家吃玉米、喝玉米汁。玉米是一种比任何事物都要强有力的共同纽带。”
