What comes to mind when you imagine the Aztec Empire? It doesn’t quite generate the obsession that the Roman Empire might, but perhaps pyramids? Warriors? Or, more likely, its decimation at the hands of Spanish conquistadors. That’s probably because so much of what is widely known about the Aztecs is filtered through those European conquerors. But 16th century central Mexico, where the Aztec Empire had thrived, was lively with history, cuisine, medicine, and culture, and that world is now more accessible than it has been for centuries. The Florentine Codex—named…
