Corn and Food: A brief history of a long journey

This article attempts to summarize the most significant contributions of an extensive number of studies made about corn, from its domestication until its dissemination. Its broad dispersal is due to the role it has had in the sustenance of human groups which have lived in the territory that is presently Mexico. This grass, whose uses are numerous and transcend its role as food, has had, and continues to have a series of elements that makes it a pivotal factor in various aspects of social and economic life, and in the cosmovision of those who daily cultivate and/or consume it. In the Pre-Hispanic past, besides being a staple food, it was a fundamental part of forms of the social organization, the economy, ideology, cosmovision, religion, ceremonies and rituals of Mesoamerican cultures.The main point of the article is in regards to food and the processes of change related to this plant that has been the focus of study for many researchers and from several points of view (geneticists, biologists, biochemists, archaeologists, historians, anthropologists, sociologists, agronomists, dieticians, nutritionists, economists). In Mexico, corn has also been used as an intrinsic element in exhibitions, books related to art, culture and food. There is no intention to cover everything that has been written about corn, but rather to give the reader a general idea of some advances in the studies carried out about this grass and its relationship to food over time.