A Fair Trade

Via Patrick Appel over at Andrew Sullivan’s, we learn:

For several centuries in pre-modern Latin America, cacao beans were considered valuable enough to use as currency. One bean could be traded for a tamale, while 100 beans could purchase a good turkey hen, according to a 16th-century Aztec document.

Figuring in inflation, I would gladly trade a handful of M&Ms for a tamale.