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   Chocolate: A Mesoamerican Luxury | 1200—1521 Using Chocolate— Only AZTEC NOBILITY, MERCHANTS, and PRIESTS drank chocolate, but EVERYONE used cacao seeds as MONEY  Drinking chocolate was a luxury few Aztecs could afford.In the Aztec world, cacao seeds were worth a fortune—for paying tribute to rulers, for buying things in markets, and for making offerings to the gods. Only the Aztec elite (rulers, priests, decorated warriors, and honored merchants) held the social status and economic position to savor the drink. Chocolate was the Aztec food of the gods. According to one Aztec legend, the god Quetzalcoatl (ket sal koh AH tul) brought heavenly cacao to Earth. Eventually, Quetzalcoatl was cast out of paradise for the blasphemous act of giving this sacred drink to humans. (The gods felt that only they should have access to chocolate.) Priests often made offerings of cacao seeds to Quetzalcoatl and these other deities.  In Aztec markets, cacao seeds served as cash.When Aztec people went shopping, they used cacao seeds to buy and sell everything from cooking pots to clothes and food. The seeds were valuable and easy to carry—like having a pocket full of coins. Cacao was valuable partly because the Aztecs couldn’t grow it themselves and had to import it from far away. And for this reason, cacao wasn’t for sale in markets—merchants kept the seeds locked up like money in a cash register. Continue to Chocolate: A European Sweet |
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