Maya Women Go Nuts For Ancient Super Food

The Mayan people of Central America once cultivated a super nut crucial to their diet. The Spanish came, using the nut died out, and so did a lot of Mayans. The trees didn't go away so once again some Maya are looking to the ancient nut for a way forward.

Mayan women in Central America are going nuts for an ancient food source both abundant and accessible. It's not just that this nut is extremely high in nutrients including protein, calcium, fiber, iron and vitamins A, E, C and B. It's also a culinary shape shifter prepared to taste like mashed potatoes, chocolate or coffee to please you. It can be dried and made into a tasty flour , is exceptional in soups and salads, falls right at your feet from trees that are a vital part of the ecosystem and grow among some of the most poverty stricken communities in the region. Why people are starving with this wonder food all round them is one of the areas of study connected to the Maya nut that occupies the working life of Erika Vohman. Vohman's Equilibrium Fund is the front line in bringing the nutty knowledge back to the Maya. Millenia ago their ancestors cultivated the trees and knew all about the Maya nut but for reasons as yet inexplicably, this knowledge feel away except in isolated pockets of Mayaland, For sure a contributing factor was the clearing of the giant, shade giving trees to plant corn for feeding the growing populations of the classic Maya cities. Biologist Vohman first came on the nut in rural Guatemala a decade ago and was intrigued by the situation where a once essential food staple of the Mayan civilization had fallen out of use even while the food kept on being produced and rotting on the ground. The current nexus of Equilibrium Fund is Flores, Guatemala and a program educating women in reaping the benefits of the Maya nut. and improving rain forest conservation and women's status in the process. Vohman has workshopped the system in Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua and El Salvador, and intends on widening its scope in all four countries. Vohman recently told CNN: "People are living right there, in extreme poverty, not even eating more than one meal a day and there's Maya nut lying all around," Vohman said. "They don't eat it because they don't know." Having watched impoverished Guatemalan communities clear rain forests to plant food, it struck Vohman that the key for uplifting Central American communities was to help them return to their roots. "These women are responsible for raising the next generation," Vohman said. "If a woman's not educated and doesn't have access to any job opportunities, it makes it really hard. Our workshops help them acquire the skills and knowledge to feed their families and better their lives." "It's impacting gender equality. That's a huge paradigm shift," she said. Now that's getting to the nut of the matter. Happy Earth Day.