Welcome to Milpah!

Maya farmers planted corn, beans and squash together in mounds called Milpahs. These were untidy but productive, and the synergy between the "Three Sisters", as the Maya called them, was an excellent agricultural strategy. The sturdy cornstalks supported the beans, which fixed nitrogen and thus provided nutrients, while the spiny squash offered protection.

The name Milpah was suggested by the president of Milpah Press, Vicki Oppenheimer, who gave us a charming description of how she learned the term. Her latest book, The Taste Makers: How New World Foods came to Old World Kitchens is now available here for free download! (Although it will cost you as much to print as it would to buy the bound edition!)

Our Milpah is also based on Three Sisters, three mutually supportive activities - Corporate Action, Personal Expression, and Public Benefit. These are expressed through the websites that you can reach through the following links:

Milpah Press publishes books that integrate different scientific approaches to the hard and soft sciences, to history, to gastronomy, and anything else that seems appropriate.

The People

Several individuals associated with Milpah have personal home pages (or will shortly):

	William Silvert is the Webmaster of Milpah, Head of Ciência Silvert, and CEO and Editor-in Chief of Milpah Press.
	Violet Oppenheimer is the President of Milpah Press and a well-known writer on food, history and anthropology.
	Maria Emília Cunha is a Biological Oceanographer and Associate Editor of Milpah Press.
	Rebecca Silvert is a Linguist and Associate Editor of Milpah Press.

Freedom to speak requires freedom to be heard.

Please address all questions and comments about this site to milpah@silvert.org. This page last updated 24 April 2004.