Ancient MAYAN FOOD - Jungle Cooking in MAYA VILLAGE in Quintana Roo, Mexico!

(tapping) - When I was in the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, one of the things I was most excited about was experiencing and eating

ancient

Mayan

food

, so we rented a van and drove to Chunhuhub, a small Mayan town deep in the Peninsula of Yucatán known for preserving Mayan cultural traditions. If you love chocolate, corn tortillas, or guacamole, we actually have the Mayans to thank. In this video I will take you on a culinary experience where we will cook and eat traditional Mayan

food

, and boy, is it fascinating. (soft music) Well, we're all loaded into the car, and by the way, I'd like to introduce you to my friend, my friend Carlos.

We traveled with Carlos and his wife and Armando. Ying and Micah are all in the back. So we headed to a place called Chunhuhub. I think that's right, it's completely Mayan, but it's about a two and a half hour drive from Playa del Carmen, so we'll just follow the map into the

jungle

. We are on our way. Carlos, ready? - Do it. Ready, let's go. - Let's go. I just pull over quickly to fill up some gas. I've been driving for about an hour and a half. We have arrived at a place called Felipe Carrillo Puerto.

Wow, it's been great so far. We are really going off the beaten path. Oh yeah, what is that? (speaking foreign language) There is a very nice lady who is serving, what is her name? she (she speaks foreign language)-Panuchos. - Panuchos. - Panuchos. - Ah, panuchos, they look a little, almost like a toast wrapper on the bottom and then on top, it looks like it's covered with chicken and avocado, lettuce, and it might have some beans inside, right? Thanks man. - Everything's fine man. - Here it is, my panucho, it's a small snack for breakfast. What happened? - Panucho. - Panucho. (panucho rustling) Mm.

If it is too good. A little cold, but it's a little cold outside. Possibly on the inside, maybe it's beans, but it's just a very thin layer on the inside. But that gives a nice different texture and flavor to the whole portable goodness. (panucho creaking) - Did you want another one, Carlos? - Hmm? - This was a much needed little roadside snack. (soft music) And we have about 40 minutes left. We arrive at Chunhuhub. The place where we are going to make Mayan cuisine and eat is right at the end of the street. I think it's about a 10 minute drive from this city, but it's a very remote destination. (soft music) Oh, I need to stretch.

It was almost three hours by car from Playa del Carmen, but we arrived. This is actually a complete ecolodge, but they also preserve the Mayan culture here, so we will see it, we will have a chance to see traditional Mayan cuisine and eat Mayan food very soon. We are literally like somewhere in the center of the Yucatan Peninsula. We are right on the border, something like close between the state of Quintana Roo and the state of Yucatán. Thank you. It's some kind of citrus, I think orange juice. Kind of, um, but it has an almost bitter smell.

Slightly. Oh! Oh, that's wonderful. It's like a cross, it tastes like lime but orange at the same time. It's delicious. (speaks foreign language) Sour orange. It was a sour orange. (speaking a foreign language) Okay, so we just went back to the garden and the compound. It's beautiful back here, it's just a fruit and vegetable paradise. (upbeat music) (speaking foreign language) Oh like a pib of tamales, ah. This is the traditional Mayan milpa, which is like a garden complex, self-sufficient, with vegetables and fruits and

cooking

and I think, anyway, this is the milpa, and they just lit the fire, you can see the logs are They are burning and then there is a pile of stones on top that we are going to cook, I think we are going to cook some things underground, and it is called pib.

Hello. - Hello. Good day. - Good morning. (speaking foreign language) - Okay. (speaking foreign language) - It's very traditional. - Well. -She said that when she was a child she didn't like her because she was very traditional at that time. - It is absolutely beautiful to see the Mayan food culture in this way. Right now they are working on preparing different types of tamales, which are traditional in the Mayan culture. After they finished wrapping all the tamales, there are bundles of banana leaves and another type of leaf. This is, oh, this is the, it's called Hoja Santa, and this is another leaf that they're wrapping some of the tamales in, but right outside is where the pib is, it's like an underground oven, where they dig. a hole and then they burn wood, and then they put hot stones on top, that's outside, that's lighting right now, that's getting ready for preparation.

Every second I get hungrier. But I'm very excited. (speaks in foreign language) (upbeat music) - Another dish they are making is called cochinita pibil, and it is a pork dish that is marinated in a lot of spices, they just showed it to me. They have already marinated it previously because they say it takes a long time. But you will find that dish all over Mexico, but we are told that many times it is no longer made in the traditional way. It is native to the Yucatan Peninsula area, it is a Mayan dish and they are going to cook it underground in that oven, in a traditional way, so we will have the opportunity to try the authentic version.

Wow, that's what it feels like, it's so hot, the immense heat it gives off. Something I have to share with you that's really cool, though, is that you can't see it right now, but I may have taken a photo before where the sticks, the wood, covered this whole hole in the ground, and then he had stones on top and then they set fire to the wood and they say that they know the fire is ready to start

cooking

when the stones break the wood because the wood has already burned enough, and then the stones fall to the ground, and then they finish fall.

In fact, we were in the cabin, we could hear a crack and the sticks broke, and in the Mayan tradition they asked for wood for the fire, and this is a very authentic way of cooking traditional Mayan food. (speaking foreign language) (upbeat music) There's another version she's doing that's unlike anything she's ever seen. It almost looks like a meatloaf or a giant muffin, but you take some dough, make it into a little cup, and then add a little bit of this, a little bit orange, I'm not totally sure what. it's still sauce and then you add some chicken then you cover it and then you give it some more dough, corn flour mixture and then you cover it with a lid and then you wrap it in a packet of banana leaves and that's another type. of Mayan tamale that we are going to try today. (speaking foreign language) (spoon scraping and food sizzling) - This is Tox-sel. - Tox-sel. - Tox-sel. (speaking a foreign language) - And it's white beans, but it's cool how he made them.

They took a stone directly from the pib, put it in the pot with the beans and you could immediately hear it hissing as it cooked. You can smell it, you can see the smoke coming out of it, it smelled very good, probably because it also burns with the spices. It's really cool to see. Awesome cooking method. (speaking foreign language) (fire bursting) They took out all the firewood that is burning around here. You don't want to fall into this hole or you'll get roasted. Oh, and now some giants, it looks like they are covering some kind of palm, covering the hole. (speaking a foreign language) (cracking palms) (cracking metal) (speaking a foreign language) Every once in a while, you can hear like a small explosion below, maybe something, a rock exploding, maybe some food exploding .

It will bake for about an hour and a half. It is a Mayan feast that is cooked underground. I can not wait! (speaks in a foreign language) While we wait for the pib to finish cooking, we're actually going to have a snack, so she's making fresh tortillas and that's just masa. I asked him what's in it, it's just pure, raw corn mashed with water, that's it, and then shaped into a tortilla. She puts it on the hot comal on the fire and we are going to eat these fresh tortillas along with that Tox-sel, which is what she cooked with that lava stone, that hot stone that she mixed with those beans.

This will be our appetizer. (speaking foreign language) This is amazing, I'm getting the steam, I'm bathing in the steam because I want to because it smells so good. It's really unique, almost, I guess, roasted garlic, but it's like a really umami smell coming out of those beans. It's really unique. (upbeat music) (foreign language spoken) Thank you very much. These are ultra-fresh tortillas straight off the comal. When you take one out of that little pumpkin, they're very hot, and then you put some, I remembered the name, it's called tok-sel, and you put some of those beans in it, oh, by the way, that unique aroma and ingredient in those beans, they said it's pumpkin seed that you grind up and put inside those beans, and then a little bit of salsa on top, you wrap this up, a little bit of taco, and, okay.

Hmm. Oh. Oh, those beans are amazing! It's so smoky, like the intense smokiness of that rock, but then you taste that variation of flavor from those pumpkin seeds that has a little bit of an earthy, almost like smoked meat flavor to those beans. . That is incredible. Hmm. That's two bites. - What is it? (speaks foreign language) - Achiote. (speaking foreign language) - Can I see that? (speaking foreign language) - It takes a while. (speaking foreign language) - Oh, they wanted to show us the plant, orange-red in color and they use it in many dishes. Oh, yeah, it has a little bit of a flavor, like...

A little bit of a floral flavor, maybe a little bit, but very light. So we have about an hour and a half to wait for the food to cook. So we'll take it easy. Micah loves it here. The breeze, the shade, the natural fresh air. And yes, this is great. We're just going to relax until the food is ready, until the Mayan festival is ready. Oh! Oh, Micah, look at these giant lemons or limes? - No, it's orange. - No, I don't think it's orange. (speaking a foreign language) (upbeat music) It was a long wait, but it's time. (shovel scraping) Look at that steam that just came out now. (palms crunching) (speaking a foreign language) You can still feel the heat of those rocks coming off even after two hours of baking, but as soon as you removed those palm leaves, you get this eruption of roasted, baked, steamed leaf aroma . everything in there.

I'm really excited right now, and they have a really nice dining room, but the light is a little dark in there, so I thought it would be perfect to sit outside, sit inside the cornfield, sit inside the garden that we have. We've been cooking and just hanging out. The food looks absolutely amazing. I must start eating immediately. I absolutely have to start with the cochinita pibil. It's a piece of pork, with all that spice. You can see all that red-orange color that comes from that spice that we took, that flower that we reviewed, and you can see all the juices at the bottom of that plate.

This is, I bet it's tender and full of flavor. Oh, look how cute that is! (laughs) Ah. Oh, wow. I think there's some dried red chili in there. But you can taste that little fruit. It almost has a citrus and spicy component. It's okay and she said it would be better to eat it with tortillas and a little onion. That sauce will blow your mind. And the tenderness of that pork and that just covered in spices. Wow, it's incredibly good. Put this in a tortilla. I'm going to add some of the onions, some of the onions, which look very purple, and maybe they're marinated in something?

And finally I'll add some roasted hot chili sauce, she said it's very spicy, it's very spicy. What I need. (slurping and chewing) (laughing) Incredible. That pork, the sour pickled onions, the pickled onions, it tastes like burnt chiles. Yes, they have a kick. Excellent. Crazy, with those freshly made tortillas. Absolutely incredible. It's absolutely stunning. So incredibly good. Well, we have the three different types of tamales on this plate. This is that giant cupcake, wow that's heavy! This is that giant, and this is a variation of the beans. I think those same white beans on the inside, and then this one looks pretty amazing, and something like I've never seen before wrapped in multiple leaves.

There are also beans in the middle with dough around them. Well, I'm going to stick my hands in here and try a piece of this, wow, that looks very filling. Oh, it's still very hot. And then it is wrapped in that leaf, which is called Holy Leaf. (bird chirping) Mm, mm. So, I mean, it's a little dry because it has a lot of starch and a lot of beans and corn, but the flavor, I love the flavor. I think the only thing I can taste right away is that leaf, Holy Leaf, which has a not very bitter taste, well, slightly bitter, very green and very unique.

But then you have the creamy beans, you have the very fine corn paste. Mm, and that leaf still gives flavor. Okay, I'm going to add some ketchup to this for the next one, this is what she says goes with this. (birds singing) It's a little dry, but I really like it. I'm going to turn the plate and I'm also going to try the giant one that is filled with meat. So I have to unravel this, and this also has that orange color, which also spices it up. That

jungle

seasoning. Let's get into this. Oh yeah, it's just full of meat.

Oh and all that orange sauce, check it out inside. And all that dough, that thick dough. Okay, I'm going to take a bite out of the center so I have a lot of that orange sauce and a little bit of that chicken too. I got a little bit of all the components from this bite. (upbeat music) Mm, you can taste that little red fruit againorange. It has a slightly spicy flavor. I mean, it has a mild flavor, but you can taste its naturalness. The chicken, the corn, that fruit that's there. It's like warming up, it's filling, satisfying and nutritious.

It's amazing food. Okay, and now I have the final tamale to try, which is this other one, and yeah, I just, I love how everything is natural, all the ingredients are natural, all the ingredients are from right here. It's ecological, it's traditional, it's

ancient

cuisine, and it's cooking using the land, ancient Mayan food, and it's absolutely magnificent. Mmmmm. Oh, so the same kind of pumpkin seed beans, except this time they were cooked underground and wrapped in that dough. Mmmm, the flavor is amazing. Again, I like it with a little sauce because it's a little dry. But that's just hearty, hearty, delicious natural Mayan food. (upbeat music) (laughter) That's extraordinary.

That's incredibly good. Wow, that dough is extremely heavy. I'm very full after that meal, but yes, it was delicious. I loved learning about the Mayan culture and learning about the food, how some of the traditional Mayan dishes are cooked and then trying them. The pork, cochinita pibil, was incredibly good. The tamales were all unique and also very good but very, very filling, and everyone here has been very kind to us, they are very warm, they are very generous. Yes, they are very, very nice people, and this is a great place. You can come here, it's true, I mean it's a little, quite off the beaten path, and that's what makes it so amazing here too.

You can come here, you can learn about traditional Mayan culture, you can eat, you can cook. This place is a complete eco-lodge and is called Kiichipam K'aax. I will have all the details of this place and all the information you need on how to come here in the description box below. It's been a fantastic time here. I have enjoyed it very much. I have learned a lot about the Yucatan Peninsula and the Mayan culture, just by spending a day here and learning about the food. I want to say a huge thank you to everyone here for their extreme generosity and yes, it has been a privilege to have the opportunity to spend some time here and eat Mayan food.

And I want to thank you very much for watching this video. Remember to like it if you enjoyed it. Leave a comment below, I'd love to hear from you and also remember to hit subscribe. I will be posting many more food and travel videos. And also click on that little bell icon, that way you'll get notifications of any future videos and all future videos that I post. Thanks again for watching. See you in the next video.