Americans ate it virtually every day of 

 their lives. 



Maize was not the New World's only 

 staple food. In the humid tropics, manioc 

 (cassava root) was processed into starch 

 and then made into a sort of bread. It was 

 an everyday food in a good part of the 

 Central and South American lowlands, al- 

 though the Spanish were unimpressed 

 with the product. ("He had a bit and gave 

 it to us to try," wrote one chronicler, "and 

 we thought it was terrible.") Potatoes and 

 siinilar root crops — sweet potatoes, yams, 

 oca, ullucu, maka, and llakhum — were 

 staples in the highland Andes, particularly 

 at elevations where maize didn't grow 

 well. In all these regions, however, maize 

 was the staple of choice. 



An impressive variety of fruits, greens, 

 seeds, and vegetables supplemented maize 

 and root crops. Beans, squash, and toma- 

 toes are the most famous of these New 

 World products, but the original Ameri- 

 cans also domesticated pineapple, passion 

 fruit, avocado, jicama, peanuts, quinoa, 

 and a host of less familiar foodstuffs. In 

 addition, New World cuisines were the 

 source of three of the modem world's most 

 important flavorings: chocolate, vanilla, 

 and chili peppers. 



Although these pre-Columbian peoples 

 produced the bulk of what they ate, they 

 were also energetic gatherers. The Aztecs 

 ate cactus fruits and the young pads of the 

 nopal, or prickly pear cactus. They col- 

 lected water bugs and their eggs, maguey 

 worms, freshwater algae, and the maize 

 smut fungus, huitlacoche, which despite 

 its unappetizing name in English is actu- 

 ally quite tasty. According to one chroni- 

 cler, the Maya would eat anything that 

 didn't smell bad to them. The Inca were 



IMAGES OF INDONESIA 



September 17 - October 1, 1994 



Indonesia comprises over 13,000 

 islands spread out like an emerald 

 crescent between the Malay 

 Peninsula and Australia. Created by 

 powerful geological processes, it is 

 a land of distinct cultures, some vir- 

 tually untouched by outside influ- 

 ence, and remote islands with some 

 of the world's most unusual 

 species. 



Following in the footsteps of such 

 luminaries as renowned naturalist 

 Alfred Russel Wallace and 

 American Museum anthropologist 

 Margaret Mead, the American 

 Museum is offering an exciting 

 opportunity this September to 

 explore these enchanting islands 

 aboard the first-class, 1 10-passen- 

 ger Caledonian Star. 













V A 







s^'^' 



— — -.-, 



^H 







yi 



fete 



H 





» 



s 



™ 



BALI 



SULAWESI 



SALAYAR 



KABAENA 



KAKABLV 



ALOR 

 LOMBLEM 



SAVU 

 KOMODO 



^ SINGAPORE 



Ujung Pandang • 



SALAYAR INDONESIA 



KOMODO 

 BALI SUMBAWA '^'-OR 



SUMBA , 

 SAVU 



American 

 Museum of 

 Natural 

 History 



Discovery Cruises 



Central Park West at 79th Street 

 New York, NY 10024-5192 

 Toll-free (800) 462-8687 or 

 (212) 769-5700 in New York 



77 



