question: if corn has no nutritional value, then how did culture's in South America/Mexico thrive because of it?
comment: It is not the case that corn has no nutritional value. In 100 grams of corn, there is 18.7 grams of carbohydrates, 1.35 grams of fat and 3.27 grams of protein, and a good quantity of vitamins B1, B3, B5 and phosphorus. URL_0
passages: Various crops found in the New World are of monumental importance in today's society, especially maize. Its value exceeds the monetary gain that the conquistadores had due to silver and gold, and is the most important world grain. Its production worldwide is over 800 million tons, and is the primary ingredient in animal feed, human food, artificial sweeteners, and even gasoline. For example, maize is still the basis of much of Mexican cuisine. In fact, maize ended up being the Native Americans' downfall when European settlers came to America. Squanto taught them how to plant it, giving them the tool that would allow them to survive and thrive in the new environment. It was the most prolific crop that could be grown in the New World soil, and it could survive in every climate imaginable in North America. By helping the settlers survive, corn contributed to their success.
   This crop was initially farmed by members of the Aztec, Mayan, and Incan cultures. It is an extremely important staple, and is considered to be the most important throughout the native peoples of the New World. Its cultivation allowed people to stop hunting and begin to settle down. Its contribution to the rise of civilization is made clear in its godlike status among native people, frequently being used a subject of art and pottery. Maize was the focal point of many Pre-Columbian religions, playing an analogous role to bread in Western religion. Humans themselves are both physically and spiritually melded from corn. Research has shown that maize may have even been a staple food in the Pre-Columbian Caribbean. Evidence of its cultivation has been found around the region, suggesting its status as an important foodstuff.
   Cultures of people living in forests live in urban settlements, flourishing thanks to the cultivation of vegetables such as squash. This includes the Adena people, who furthered spirituality by linking works of art to the natural world.
  
  BULLET::::- After 900 B.C.E.
  
  Most Mesoamerican societies begin to rely on maize as their primary source of food.
  
  BULLET::::- After 800 B.C.E.
  
  "Phaseolus" becomes known to the people of Peru.
  
  BULLET::::- 1100 C.E.
  
  The Hopi people have an agriculture largely based on maize, with beliefs grounded in the power of nature and the "corn mother," who sustains them and gives them life.
   Around 7000 BCE, the indigenous peoples of Mexico and Central America hunted game and gathered plants, including wild chile peppers. Corn was not yet cultivated, so one main source of calories was roasted agave hearts. By 1200 BCE, corn was domesticated and a process called nixtamalization, or treatment with lye, was developed to soften corn for grinding and improve its nutritional value. This allowed the creation of tortillas and other kinds of flat breads. The indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica had numerous stories about the origin of corn, usually related to being a gift of one or more gods, such as Quetzalcoatl.
   The inhibited growth of certain mycotoxins (toxic fungi) is another benefit of nixtamalization. If the processed maize, the "nextamalli", is allowed to ferment, further nutrients, including amino acids such as lysine and tryptophan are made available. Together with beans, vegetables, fruit, chilis and salt nixtamalized corn can form a healthy and diverse diet.
  
  Section::::Foods.:Spices.
   The other major foods were beans and New World varieties of the grains amaranth (or pigweed), and chia. The combination of maize and these basic foods would have provided the average Aztec a very well-rounded diet without any significant deficiencies in vitamins or minerals. The cooking of maize grains in alkaline solutions, a process called nixtamalization, significantly raised the nutritional value of the common staple.
   Maize was the single most important staple of the Aztecs. It was consumed at every meal by all social classes, and played a central role in Aztec mythology. To some of the first Europeans, the Aztecs described maize as "precious, our flesh, our bones". It came in a vast number of varieties of various sizes, shapes and colors; yellow, reddish, white with stripes of color, black, with or without speckles and a blue-husked variant that was considered to be particularly precious. Other local and regional varieties must have also existed but few were recorded. Maize was revered to such an extent that women blew on maize before putting it into the cooking pot so that it would not fear the fire, and any maize that was dropped on the ground was picked up rather than being wasted. One of the Aztec informants of the Spanish Franciscan missionary and chronicler Bernardino de Sahagún explained the practice in the following way:
   Maize (corn) was the foundation of the diet of indigenous Aztec people due to its drought-resistance and plentiful yields. Indigenous people found several uses for "maize", such as:
  
  BULLET::::- Atole - thick, paste-like gruel made from boiled "maize"
  
  BULLET::::- Tortillas - flatbread made from ground "maize" and cooked over heat on clay surfaces
  
  BULLET::::- Tamales - steamed "maize" dough ("masa"")" with a spongy consistency
   As maize was introduced to new cultures, new uses were developed and new varieties selected to better serve in those preparations. Maize was the staple food, or a major staple – along with squash, Andean region potato, quinoa, beans, and amaranth – of most pre-Columbian North American, Mesoamerican, South American, and Caribbean cultures. The Mesoamerican civilization, in particular, was deeply interrelated with maize. Its traditions and rituals involved all aspects of maize cultivation – from the planting to the food preparation. Maize formed the Mesoamerican people's identity.
   The significance of these root crops is made clear by their prominence in sculpture and art. Both potatoes and sweet potatoes were initially cultivated by the Incas.
  
  BULLET::::- Blueberry
  
  This fruit was used in conjunction with dried meat in a dish known as pemmican, common among indigenous tribes.
  
  BULLET::::- Brambles
  
  Species of "Rubus" were not necessarily cultivated by indigenous people, but all modern cultivars originate from species native to North America.
  
  BULLET::::- Cacao
   The process has not substantially declined in usage in the Mesoamerican region, though there has been a decline in North America. Many North American Native American tribes, such as the Huron, no longer use the process. In some Mesoamerican and North American regions, dishes are still made from nixtamalized maize prepared by traditional techniques. The Hopi obtain the necessary alkali from ashes of various native plants and trees. Some contemporary Maya use the ashes of burnt mussel shells, while other Maya cook maize with small pieces of limestone.
   The spread of maize cultivation in the Americas was accompanied by the adoption of the nixtamalization process. Traditional and contemporary regional cuisines (including Maya cuisine, Aztec cuisine, and Mexican cuisine) included, and still include, foods based on nixtamalized maize.
   The seeds of this plant held monetary value to the Aztecs, and were also common in ceramics. The chocolate that comes from it gave rise to a variety of beverages. Due to the specificity of the environments in which they can succeed, cacao bean cultivation was highly regionalized, grown in plantation-like monocultures.
  
  BULLET::::- Cactus
  
  Also hailing from the New World, cactus crops are now frequently used for fruit, vegetables, and dye.
  
  BULLET::::- Chokecherries
  
  Important for Plains tribes of Native Americans, these cherries were pounded and sun-dried.
  
  BULLET::::- "Mannomi"
   Just like the cultures that inhabited Mexico before the Columbian exchange, the modern Mexican diet is heavily based on corn, beans, and peppers. Corn possesses the same importance in the region today that it did in the past. It remains the essential food product in Mexico and is utilized in a variety of ways. Also, beans are consumed in conjunction with corn like in the past. Other native plants that remain prevalent in Mexico's cuisine include: tomatoes, squash, onions, tomatillos, chayote, avocados, and cactus.
   After the establishment of Spanish missions between 1595–1620, the Timucua were introduced to European foods, including barley, cabbage, chickens, cucumbers, figs, garbanzo beans, garlic, European grapes, European greens, hazelnuts, various herbs, lettuce, melons, oranges, peas, peaches, pigs, pomegranates, sugar cane, sweet potatoes, watermelons, and wheat. The native corn became a traded item and was exported to other Spanish colonies.
   The food of the Yucatán peninsula is distinct from the rest of the country. It is based primarily on Mayan food with influences from the Caribbean, Central Mexican, European (especially French) and Middle Eastern cultures. As in other areas of Mexico, corn is the basic staple, as both a liquid and a solid food. One common way of consuming corn, especially by the poor, is a thin drink or gruel of white corn called by such names as pozol or keyem.
   Maize and cornmeal (ground dried maize) constitute a staple food in many regions of the world.
  
  Maize is central to Mexican food. Virtually every dish in Mexican cuisine uses maize. In the form of grain or cornmeal, maize is the main ingredient of tortillas, tamales, pozole, atole and all the dishes based on them, like tacos, quesadillas, chilaquiles, enchiladas, tostadas and many more. In Mexico even a fungus of maize, known as huitlacoche is considered a delicacy.
   "Most notably, Dillehay’s team found the world’s earliest-known collection of corn macroremains (e.g., stalks and cobs), which included all early varieties of the plant—ceremonial popcorn, corn used for chicha beer, flour corn, and corn for foraging animals."
  
  This suggests that Huaca Prieta was an important hub in a large trading network reaching all the way to Mexico, where domesticated corn originated.
  
  Section::::Earliest Evidence of Avocado.
   The most important staple was corn (maize), a crop that was so important to Aztec society that it played a central part in their mythology. Just like wheat in much of Europe or rice in most of East Asia, it was the food without which a meal was not a meal. It came in varieties that differed in color, texture, size and prestige, and was eaten as corn tortillas, tamales or "ātōlli", maize gruel. The other constants of Aztec food were salt and chili peppers and the basic definition of Aztec fasting was to abstain from these two flavors.
   Well, that's just how to manage it, then this corn can be sold on the market by mothers or for food at home. And generally in traditional events in East Flores, Titi corn is the main menu to serve as one of the terms of tribal culture. Lamaholot. And nowadays there are a number of small businessmen who are starting to process it again and sell it in the form of tidier packaging
  
  Section::::Local Products.:Woven Fabring ("Tenun Ikat").
   Several foods that came from the New World rapidly became staples in Europe. Examples of European dependence on Mesoamerican foods can be found in Ireland with the potato and in Italy with the tomato.
  
  Section::::Staples.:Maize.
   Industrial crops, especially cotton, rubber, quinine, and tobacco, have become widely grown for non-food purposes. Cotton is common in clothing, rubber has many industrial uses, quinine contributed to the destruction of malaria, and tobacco contributed to many negative health effects.
  
  BULLET::::- Mexican cuisine:
   Another culturally important plant was cacao (ancient Mesoamerican chocolate). Cacao was used in rituals (as a drink) and was also used as currency in trade.
  
  The crops above are only a few of the domesticated plants important to the ancient peoples of Mesoamerica. Please see the section below for a more comprehensive list of ancient Mesoamerican domesticated plants.
  
  Section::::Domesticated Plants.
  
  Main source: Pre-Columbian Foodways
  
  A list of Mesoamerican cultivars and staples:
  
  BULLET::::1. Agave* - also known as the Century plant
  
  BULLET::::2. Anona – this fruit is also called the "Custard Apple"
   BULLET::::- Maize – first cultivated in present-day Mexico several thousand years ago, corn is currently the most cultivated grain in the world with the US being the largest cultivator of maize followed by mainland China. Over 700 million tons of maize are grown worldwide annually today in order to feed people and animals. In addition, ethanol extracted from corn is also used to fuel engines in millions of vehicles, thousands of planes, and other engines throughout the world.
  
  BULLET::::- Manioc – Native Americans were the first peoples in the world to cultivate manioc.
   A process called nixtamalization was used all over America where maize was the staple. The word is a compound of the Nahuatl words "nextli" ("ashes") and "tamalli" ("unformed corn dough; tamal"), and the process is still in use today. Dry maize grain is soaked and cooked in an alkaline solution, usually limewater. This releases the pericarp, the outer hull of the grains and makes the maize easier to grind. The process transforms maize from a simple source of carbohydrates into a considerably more complete nutritional package; it increases the amount of calcium, iron, copper, zinc that are added through the alkalide or the vessel used in the process and niacin, riboflavin and more protein already present in the corn that is not digestible to humans are made available through the process.
  
presuppositions: Corn has no nutritional value.  Corn has no nutritional value.
corrections: Corn has a lot of nutritional value and provides a lot for humans.  There are many nutrients in corn.
raw_presuppositions: Corn has no nutritional value.  Corn has no nutritional value.
raw_corrections: Corn has a lot of nutritional value and provides a lot for humans.  There are many nutrients in corn.