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Blue Ocean Resort by the Sea Mexican cuisine is known for its intense and varied flavors, colorful decoration, and variety of spices. Mexican gastronomy is one of the richest in the world, both with respect to diverse and appealing tastes and textures; and in terms of proteins, vitamins, and minerals. Some people consider Mexican cuisine to be the second most varied and vast in the world (after Chinese cuisine).
When Spanish conquistadores arrived in the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan (the ancient city on which Mexico City was built), they found that the people's diet consisted largely of corn-based dishes with chiles and herbs, usually complemented with beans and squash.
The conquistadores eventually combined their imported diet of rice, beef, pork, chicken, wine, garlic and onions with the indigenous foods of pre-Columbian Mexico, including chocolate, maize, tomato, vanilla, avocado, papaya, pineapple, chile pepper, beans, squash, sweet potato, peanut and turkey. The totopo (a salted corn tortilla cooked in a fire oven) may have been created as part of this cuisine.