The Popcorn People: How Ancient Maize Built Civilizations

Added: 2026-05-17

[00:00:00]The wild popcorn seed was basically inedible and it fell into a fire and popped and then they ate it and then they built one of the world's great civilizations from that simple process. So they're the popcorn people. Pretty much the history of Central America is indebted to maize.

[00:00:21]You are right. I mean you look at the first even kind of pre-Olmecs, the first sort of people doing anything was able to do so because they'd learned how to sort of cultivate maize. And the Olmecs also they love their fish. Particularly in San Lorenzo, which is sort of the Olmec capital, was sort of a early fishing town and then sort of a city.

[00:00:37]And so yeah, I mean these guys were I mean 1,800 I mean that is 3,000 plus years ago.