A lot of people even in the Old World have forgotten that maize is an import. For example, for several centuries now the staple food of the poor in Romania was mamaligă, mush from ground maize like Italy’s polenta. (Mamaligă still remains popular as a quick and convenient dish, made tasty with cheese and sour cream). If you wonder out loud among Romanians what mamaligă was originally made from, a lot of people will tell you that it must have always been made from maize; they aren’t even aware that maize was brought to Europe after 1492.