Guatemala is a small country, a little larger than the state of Ohio; but it’s home to more than 14 million people! Ohio is mostly flat, with forests and farmland. Guatemala, on the other hand, has a huge diversity of biomes (plant life), climates (weather) and landscapes. There’s the hot and humid coasts, the chilly mountainous forests, tropical rainforests, grassy savanna, the cloud forests and more. The people who live in these different places adapt to different crops (fruits, veggies and grains) and game (animals to hunt) -- from fish to birds to iguanas! However, there is one crop that unites Guatemalans, so much so that the mythology, religion and customs converge on one important plant.
Any guesses? You probably see it all the time, you might have heard that it should be a certain height by the 4th of July? It’s corn! This crop is a staple of the Guatemalan diet. Most Guatemalans eat corn or corn based products every day: in tortillas or tamalitos; in a thick, warm beverage called atol made of toasted ground corn; or stuffed with meat or cheese to make pupusas or chuchitos.
The corn is not like the sweet corn you eat with butter and salt. This is grain corn, which is left on the stalk until it dries and makes a hard kernel that can be ground up into flour and shaped into tortillas, for example.
